El Niño: don't scare the cows - NZIER Insight 53
September 22, 2015
This summer will be a scorcher. MetService is forecasting the most severe El Niño in over 20 years. Past El Niño events have hit farmers hard and tipped New Zealand into recession. But farming today is not the farming of yesteryear and we need to examine local conditions one region at … Read more
Speed dating central bank style - NZIER Insight 52
September 1, 2015
From next year, the Reserve Bank will let go one chance each year to meet and set interest rates. That means the Reserve Bank could easily fall behind the run rate on the interest rate settings required to manage the economy. The Reserve Bank is also tweaking when they meet to try and … Read more
Sitting down on the job - NZIER Insight 51
July 31, 2015
New Zealand is now one of the most obese countries in the world. The impact on our health comes with substantial economic costs. A range of factors are known to be important, with changes in diet being fingered as one of the culprits. Another less obvious factor is that the economic t … Read more
Trans-Tasman relationship close, but could be closer - NZIER Inisght 50
February 25, 2015
New Zealand and Australia share many things: a tariff-free border, a free labour market, joint institutions, hosting rights to the Cricket World Cup 2015 (go the Black Caps!) and a mutual distaste for English rugby. Ahead of the 10th Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum in Auckland … Read more
Funding the world's most liveable city: the missing third leg? NZIER Insight 49
November 13, 2014
Auckland's potential will only be unlocked if investment funding can be found to deal with infrastructure bottlenecks. This Insight explores the role of private capital in funding Auckland's infrastructure. It concludes that greater effort to attract private capital through the provis … Read more
The power of price - NZIER Insight 48
October 30, 2014
This week Auckland Council presented two options for raising additional funding for land transport projects - introducing user-charges to use the motorway network, or increasing rates and fuel taxes. NZIER welcomes the opportunity to publicly debate road pricing. We see user-charges a … Read more
Costly investment decisions require improved population forecasts - NZIER Insight 47
August 25, 2014
Investing wisely today for the New Zealand of tomorrow requires a detailed understanding of how many people there will be and where we will work and live. Billions of dollars of infrastructure spending are at stake. Yet past estimates of New Zealand's population, on which these invest … Read more
The Bank of England's new approach to mortgage restrictions better targeted than LVR policy - NZIER Insight 46
July 2, 2014
Just last week Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, tightened the rules on mortgage lending in the United Kingdom. Now loans set at more than 4.5 times income can make up only 15 percent of new mortgage lending. We like this approach to financial stability because it dire … Read more
Time to revise the TWI to reflect modern New Zealand's export profile - NZIER Insight 45
February 24, 2014
People are worried about the damage the strengthening exchange rate might be doing to the export sector, but the headline exchange rate measures don't capture burgeoning emerging market trade. Read more
Migrants increase our incomes - NZIER Insight 44
February 10, 2014
A new Insight from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) shows that increasing net migration would lift incomes not just for immigrants but for the native population. An additional 40,000 people a year for 10 years increases GDP per capita by a chunky $410 a year. "A … Read more