Inside Money: New Zealand's top financial model

Reserve Bank communications advisor Anthea Black, with the Moniac in Wellington. File photo / Mark Mitchell

Want to see some beautiful models?

Then pay a visit to the Reserve Bank museum - it's free.

Amongst the exhibits you will find this lovely representation of the global financial crisis, rendered as a palm (could be a coconut) tree blowing in the wind. 'Weathering the Storm' looks great but disappointingly concludes at June 2010 with the wind just starting to pick up again after a brief lull.

I might ask Barry for an update on the tree. Ask him anything and Barry, one of the Bank's longest-serving staff members who was seconded from retirement for the job, will do his best to get back to you within three working days.

Both Barry and the GFC model are terrific features of the Reserve Bank museum but my favourite attraction is the 'Virtual MONIAC', which recreates the water-based model economy as originally devised by one of New Zealand's brilliant exports, Bill Phillips, in the 1940s.

The MONIAC was a marvel when Phillips first wheeled it out and it's beautiful still, even in its digital form. There's something truly compelling about watching the water economy flowing harmoniously through a closed loop of buckets and pipes.

I'm not sure if Phillips designed a system to contain leaks in the MONIAC.

Question for Barry: Is there a bail-out device?