David Grimmond, Associate
David Grimmond is an independent Associate of TDB. David has more than 20 years of experience providing economic, policy and planning advice to private and public sector clients. In addition, he has worked directly for central government departments (Treasury and the Department of Labour), and most recently as the internal economist for the Greater Wellington Regional Council.
David started his career working at the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) where he had a leading role preparing economic forecasts, editing the Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, and undertaking customised projects for clients. David next worked at the Treasury where he led the team preparing economic forecasts for the Budget and later managed the Macroeconomic Policy team, which had oversight over medium term fiscal strategy as well as providing advice on the performance of the Reserve Bank. David also spent four years as the Department of Labour’s economic adviser, in which time he also established the Department’s Future of Work unit, and at separate times managed their Research and Evaluation and Labour Market Information units.
For a large part of his career, David worked at Infometrics Ltd, later becoming a Director. For many years he led their economic forecasting activities, but increasingly focused on consulting activities, contributing to around 150 projects for clients. Clients that David has provided services to include:
- Central government departments and agencies;
- Local government agencies;
- private sector including commercial banks, financial service providers, industry associations, education providers, social service advocates, manufacturers, primary industry, Māori economic development, infrastructure providers, building, tourism industry; and
- political parties.
The types of services that David has provided clients include:
- project assessment, including cost-benefit analysis, social returns on investment, risk analysis;
- customised forecasting services, including the development of client specific forecast models and facilitating scenario development;
- policy and strategic analysis advice; and
- expert witness services in relation to employment, environmental, and investment performance issues.
David has provided advice to clients on labour market performance, education issues, skill requirements, immigration policy, building sector performance and prospects, environmental issues such as waste management and trade-offs associated with species protection, tax policy, the contribution of social investments to national wellbeing, and tobacco control policies.
David has a BA (Hons) in economics from the University of Otago and is a member of the American Economic Association. David is a keen road cyclist and masters-grade footballer.
