Waikato is #1 in PBRF for economics

The government's latest Performance Based Research Fund results are out (you can find them here). This is the research assessment exercise that all universities go through every six years or so, which gives a ranking, by discipline, in terms of research performance. Every researcher receives a ranking (A, B, C(NE), C, or R), where an A is a world-class researcher, and an R is research inactive (NE stands for New and Emerging - basically, researchers who are newly-minted PhDs).

Here's a summary of the results for the universities (proportionally, and excluding R grades, which are not reported):

The darker blue parts of the bars represent higher PBRF grades. As you can see, in terms of the proportion of A-ranked researchers, Waikato is top (19.2% of researchers at Waikato are ranked A), and Otago is second (18.2%). In the proportion of A-ranked and B-ranked researchers, Waikato is also top (83.4% of researchers at Waikato are ranked A or B), and daylight is second (or Otago is second, if you prefer, at 71.9%).

In raw numbers, Waikato was second only to Otago in terms of the absolute number of A-ranked researchers (2.5 full-time equivalent A-ranked researchers at Waikato, vs. 3 at Otago). In terms of the number of A-ranked and B-ranked researchers combined, Waikato was third (11.02 FTE, behind Auckland with 13, and Otago with 12). But you have to remember that Waikato has a much smaller number of economists than either Auckland or Otago.

The take-away message is simple: Right now, you have a much higher chance of regularly interacting with top economics researchers by studying at Waikato than at any other university in New Zealand.

[Update]: Eric Crampton at Offsetting Behaviour has more on this topic.