KEY POINTS:
Bill Phillips' first claim to fame, as a fledgling economist, was Moniac - the monetary national income analogue computer - which uses flows of coloured water to model the workings of an economy.
Its ability to model the subtle interactions of economic variables made it a powerful tool for its time. It stands 2m high by 1m deep and 1.2m wide.
Phillips made the earliest versions out of war surplus parts he managed to scrounge. The calibrated perspex tanks, for example, were made from the windscreens of Lancaster bombers.
It pre-dated electronic computers and was eventually superseded by them, with flows of electrons proving more convenient than water. Only a few were ever built.
One of them is in the Reserve Bank's museum in Wellington. Governor Alan Bollard, who was instrumental in bringing it to New Zealand and having it restored, describes it as a black box turned inside out.
"When school classes come along to look at the model you see the kids' eyes widen and their brains open up, when they see how things physically work."
