Publications

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

New Zealand struggles to grow its economy partially due to its small size and remote location. There is little that can be done to change location, but the size can be increased over time. It is feasible to adopt a population policy with the aim of the population reaching 15 million in the next 50 years – an annual growth rate of 2.5% per annum. This would bring the size and density of the population to levels closer to more prosperous European countries. Fifteen million – two and a half times current projections – is a good target, too, as it allows for several large cities, fostering competition within New Zealand.

An occasional column for the Dominion Post newspaper.

The government has agreed to investigate United Future’s flexi-superannuation proposal - the idea that people are able to choose whether to take up superannuation at age 60 at a reduced rate or at a higher rate at some later age. It is good that changes to superannuation are on the table. But it is critical that discussion is not limited to just this flexibility.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

The recovery will slower than previously thought, according to the NZIER Consensus Forecasts. But the economy will still grow: 2.2% in the year ending March 2012 and then accelerate to 3.0% in 2013 and 2014. The Canterbury reconstruction will be a key driver, with the rest of the economy growing more modestly, averaging 2.2% over the next three years.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

In Tracking the Economy, NZIER's weekly column for the National Business Review.

The Canterbury earthquakes have disrupted lives and the economy. This Insight brings together key economic indicators to provide a snapshot of the economic disruption. The true cost of the disaster will not be known for some time. The immediate clean-up and reconstruction is boosting demand in certain sectors like utilities, construction, safety, healthcare and social assistance. These have not fully offset reduced activity in other sectors.

Performance indices are used worldwide as indicators of activity in key sectors to assist analysts and decision-makers. An advantage of these indices is that, by pooling information from the series that make up the indices, idiosyncratic variation is smoothed out, and a stable and potentially more robust indicator of direction is constructed. Our study shows that individual sector diffusion indices from the QSBO are both good coincidental and leading indicators of economic activity.