1,721,222 research outputs found
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Where are we Now?
Full text linkA number of decisions need to be made when setting up a nutrient trading system including defining a target, allocating allowances and setting up a monitoring system. To ensure that the nutrient trading system implemented operates in harmony with existing regulation, existing work and institutions need to be used to guide this decision making process. This paper briefly explores each of the decisions required to implement a nutrient trading system and to what extent they have been addressed so far. This will provide context for following papers which will examine each issue in more depth.Water quality; nutrients; trading; Lake Rotorua
Bridge to Somewhere: The Value of Auckland's Northern Motorway Extensions
Full text linkWe estimate benefits that have resulted from extensions to Auckland's Northern Motorway since 1991. Population and employment rose substantially in locations near the new exits and to the north of the motorway extension, relative to developments elsewhere on the North Shore and in the broader Auckland Region. Land values also rose strongly near the new exits. Our approach to measuring net benefit uses changes in land values (after controlling for other factors) as a revealed preference indicator of value. We compare the estimated benefits with costs of the project to gain a measure of the project's benefit:cost ratio (B:C). Our results indicate that the gross benefit of the extensions from Tristram Avenue to Orewa is at least s) compared with the estimated extension costs (discounted to 2004) of $366 million, giving a B:C ratio of at least 6.3, which exceeds the standard ratio of 4.0 used to approve roading projects in New Zealand. Our estimates take account of the possibility of diminution in value occurring elsewhere near the existing Northern Motorway network, but not in other areas of Auckland or elsewhere in the country. Conversely, they do not include any benefits that may be impounded in commercial property values in the CBD (and elsewhere) arising from increased accessibility to an enlarged labour pool.infrastructure; transport investment; benefit:cost; Auckland motorway
New Zealand: A Typical Australasian Ecomony?
Full text linkWe examine trend economic developments in New Zealand and in each of Australia's six states and two territories (i.e. nine regions) in order to inform issues regarding economic policy harmonisation across Australasia. Our focus is on trend developments in GDP, population, GDP per capita and employment (each at regional level), and in sectoral industry shares within each region. By comparing New Zealand developments with those in the eight Australian regions, we infer whether New Zealand's developments have been typical of those experienced elsewhere in Australasia. Examination of development trends also indicates the nature of the development process across Australasian regions. For instance, we examine the extent to which certain regions are experiencing growth in high-value industries (such as business and financial services), and examine the degree to which some are dependent on primary industries, including agriculture and mining. Analysis of all the data indicates that, while New Zealand has some idiosyncratic features, it is reasonable to regard it as a "typical" Australasian economy in many respects.Australia, New Zealand, Economic Union, Sectoral Development
Quantifying Creative Destruction Entrepreneurship and Productivity in New Zealand
Full text linkThis paper (a) provides a framework for quantifying any economy's flexibility, and (b) reviews the evidence on New Zealand firms' birth, growth and death. The data indicate that, by and large, the labour market and the financial market are doing their job.
Spatial Determinants of Land Prices in Auckland:Does the Metropolitan Urban Limit Have an Effect?
Full text linkLand prices within monocentric cities typically decline from the centre to the urban periphery. More complex patterns are observed in polycentric and coastal cities; discrete jumps in value can occur across zoning boundaries. Information on these patterns within Auckland is important to understand: (a) the nature of Auckland's development, including the impact of infrastructure investments; and (b) the effects of regulation in causing discrete land valuation changes. One such regulation in Auckland is the metropolitan urban limit (MUL); we specifically examine whether the existence of this growth limit affects land prices. We do so in the context of a model of all Auckland land values over a twelve-year period, finding a strong zoning boundary effect on land prices.growth limits; zoning restrictions; boundary effects; land value gradients
Changes in the Mâori Income Distribution: Evidence from the Population Census
Full text linkThis paper uses census data to identify the main changes in the individual-level income distribution of working-aged Mâori between 1991 and 2001, and to analyse the effects of changes in the distribution of socio-demographic attributes and labour market activity patterns on the Mâori income distribution. There was substantial real income growth at most points in the income distribution, and particularly at points above the 30th percentile, but a decline in real incomes at the very lowest percentiles. The socio-demographic and labour market changes considered help to explain much of the income growth that was recorded at lower- middle to upper levels of income. However, they fail to account for the increase in the proportion of people with negative, nil, or very low incomes.Individual income distribution, Inequality, Mâori
Changes in the Maori Income Distribution: Evidence from the Population Census
Full text linkThis paper uses census data to identify the main changes in the individual-level income distribution of working-aged Maori between 1991 and 2001, and to analyse the effects of changes in the distribution of socio-demographic attributes and labour market activity patterns on the Maori income distribution. There was substantial real income growth at most points in the income distribution, and particularly at points above the 30th percentile, but a decline in real incomes at the very lowest percentiles. The socio-demographic and labour market changes considered help to explain much of the income growth that was recorded at lower-middle to upper levels of income. However, they fail to account for the increase in the proportion of people with negative, nil, or very low incomes.Individual income distribution, Inequality, Maori
What's the Beef with House Prices? Economic Shocks and Local Housing Markets
Full text linkWe examine the impact of shocks on community outcomes. The shocks that we examine are exogenous economic shocks which occur externally to the local community, and which are hypothesised to impact on the community. By testing the impact of these shocks on community developments, we enrich understanding of what causes communities to develop as they do over time. In particular, we gain a greater understanding of the impact of factors largely or wholly outside the control of local communities which lead to inequality in outcomes between communities. To focus our analysis, we concentrate on the price of houses within each community as the community outcome variable. The local price of houses summarises, in one dimension, a host of tangible and intangible components relating to the community of interest. We use a multivariate panel structure to estimate the long-run and short-run impacts of price, production and demographic variables on real house prices.House prices, commodity prices, regional shocks, adjustment dynamics
Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Overview of a Prototype System
Full text linkWater quality in Lake Rotorua has been declining for at least the last 30 years as increased levels of nutrients have entered the lake. Despite significant effort and expenditure, the level of nutrients entering the lake still exceeds sustainable levels. A nutrient trading system would help the catchment achieve this goal at least cost. Nutrient sources would bear the cost of their impact on water quality and hence take these costs into account in their decision-making. This paper presents a prototype nutrient trading system for achieving cost effective nutrient loss reductions for the Lake Rotorua catchment.Water quality, nutrients, trading, Lake Rotorua
Short term effects of moderate carbon prices on land use in the New Zealand emissions trading system: LURNZ-climate land use change simulations
Full text linkThe New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) was introduced through the Climate Change Response Act in September 2008 and remains in force. The forestry sector has been directly affected by the NZ ETS since 1 January 2008 and stationary energy, liquid fuels and industrial emissions have been affected since 1 July 2010. When it is fully implemented in 2015 it will cover all sources and gases including agricultural emissions. Using the Land Use in Rural New Zealand model (LURNZ), we simulate rural land use changes that could be driven by the NZETS in order that we can explore their potential implications for emissions and removals (sequestration) and rural incomes and land values. This paper documents our simulation methods and presents short term (up to 2015) simulations for moderate prices ($25 New Zealand dollars per tonne of CO2-e) where our current modelling techniques are most robust.Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,
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