DR SHOLEH MAANI is an Economist and an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland.

Prior to moving to New Zealand in 1984, she had an academic career in the USA, was the director of a major labour economics project in Chile, and she spent 1990-1991 as a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Her fields of interest are economics of income distribution, the labour market, the economics of education, and economic development. As a specialist, she has served as a research advisor and has conducted research on labour market issues for New Zealand and overseas governments.

She is the author of the book: "Investing in Minds: The Economics of Higher Education in New Zealand", Institute of Policy Studies (1997), and has had an ongoing interest in higher education policy.

She has served as the President of the New Zealand Association of Economists 1995-1997, following two years as the Vice-President.

She has been married to Dr Kambiz Maani, who is also an academic, since she was nineteen years old, and she is the mother of two.