james.zuccollo

James specialises in economic modelling and has provided quantitative analysis to support numerous projects while working at NZIER. He has an interest in resource and environmental issues and has co-authored a number of papers on environmental taxation.

NZIER provided analysis to support the red meat sector’s bid for government funding of some growth initiatives. We used our CGE model of the New Zealand economy to show how growth in the sector would affect the entire economy. That modelling demonstrated, for example, how efforts to increase red meat prices in overseas markets had positive flow-on impacts to the rest of New Zealand.

Our modelling enabled the red meat sector to quantify the benefits of their PGP bid on the entire New Zealand economy.

Universities New Zealand wanted to show the benefits to the whole nation from increased university education. We created a series of interlinked models that quantified the impact university research and education has on the labour force and the economy. That research showed the long-term gains that could be realised from increased university participation.

Our research gives the universities an evidence base that shows the benefits they provide to the economy.

Aquaculture NZ has a number of growth strategies for the next 10 years. They wanted to know how specific aquaculture initiatives would benefit the wider New Zealand economy. We employed our dynamic model of the New Zealand economy and tailored it specifically for the aquaculture sector to examine salmon, oyster and kingfish growth separately. That allowed us to determine the relative benefits of, for example, gains in salmon farming productivity relative to additional space for kingfish.

This study enabled Aquaculture NZ to gain a better understanding of the relative importance of different subsectors of the industry.