Category Archives: Statistics

Economic Inequality in New Zealand: a User’s Guide: Key Points

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics, Statistics on by .

Extracted from the full report published in The New Zealand Journal of Sociology, Vol 28, Issue 3, 2013, pages 9-66. (http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2013/12/economic-inequality-in-new-zealand-a-users-guide-summary/)   Keywords: Distributional Economics; Statistics;   Key Messages   Section 1: Why is Economic Inequality Important?   1. The section identifies four main issues as to why inequality may be important – equity –…
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Economic Inequality in New Zealand: a User’s Guide

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics, Statistics on by .

Published in The New Zealand Journal of Sociology , Vol 28, Issue 3, 2013, pages 9-66.  http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE18625730&dps_custom_att_1=ilsdb Keywords: Distributional Economics; Statistics; “When inequality is the common law of a society, the greatest inequalities do not call attention to themselves.” Democracy in America, A. de Tocqueville.   B. Perry (2103) Household Incomes in New Zealand: Trends…
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Top Market Incomes 1981-2011

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Keywords: Distributional Economics; Statistics;     Introduction [1]   One of the few useful sources of market income information is incomes declared for tax purposes. Even so it has limitations.   It is administrative data and so is sensitive to changes in statute and administrative policy. Thus the definition of income is that set by…
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Inequality Claims

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I reviewed “Inequality: a New Zealand Crisis”, Max Rashbrooke (ed) in “The New Zealand Listener” of 10 October, 2013. (http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/2012/11/is-new-zealand-still-fair/). It elicited the following letter and my reply.   Keywords: Distributional Economics; Statistics;   We welcome Brian Easton’s review of Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis (“Books & Culture, October 19) and his acknowledgement that it…
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Commentary on Treasury’s Living Standards: a Short Guide to ‘Managing Risks”

This entry was posted in Governance, Statistics on by .

This is a commentary of a Treasury document available at  http://www.treasury.govt.nz/abouttreasury/higherlivingstandards/hls-ag-risks-jan13.pdf             The living standards framework is at:             http://www.treasury.govt.nz/abouttreasury/higherlivingstandards I was asked to do this comment in a hurry. Some of the thinking is as superficial as that of a university professor (as we say in the trade).   Keywords:…
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Calculating Sen’s Real National Income for New Zealand

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Keywords: Distributional Economics; Growth & Innovation; Statistics;   I have just realised that we can calculate Amartya Sen’s ‘real income’ measure  for New Zealand for a 30 year period, by combining our Statistics New Zealand estimates of national income with the Ministry of Social Development estimates of household gini coefficients. This note describes how this…
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University Rankings by PBRF Score [1]

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    Keywords: Education; Statistics;   The PBRF (Performance Based Research Fund) score card has modified university behaviour substantially. This is not a paper about how that internal behaviour has changed. Rather it suggests that the scores may be used in different ways to draw quite different conclusions. Gilling’s law states that the way you…
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The Fathers’ Incomes Premium in the Postwar Era

This entry was posted in Political Economy & History, Social Policy, Statistics on by .

Draft for discussion; this version completed 24 May 2103.   Keywords: Political Economy & History; Social Policy; Statistics;   This note disinters a result I found in the 1970s and subsequently buried in Income Distribution in New Zealand. Years later it may have some relevance to some puzzles I am working on about the changing…
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Projecting Government Spending

This entry was posted in Regulation & Taxation, Social Policy, Statistics on by .

Presentation to a Treasury Workshop on the Long-Term Fiscal Projections; 26 September, 2012. I am writing a history of New Zealand from an economic perspective. The manuscript – 250,000 words and I am only up to the 1970s – includes a number of appendices looking at the data. One is on government spending. The Treasury…
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Exercises in New Zealand’s Demography and Economic History

This entry was posted in Maori, Political Economy & History, Statistics on by .

This is an earlier version of a paper published in New Zealand Population Review, which was a festschrift to D. Ian Pool (Vol 7, 2011 p.178-182) Introduction In the course of writing Not in Narrow Seas: New Zealand History from an Economic Perspective I was found myself not only reporting demographic history, but using demography…
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Leaky Legislation

This entry was posted in Business & Finance, Governance, Listener, Social Policy, Statistics on by .

Listener: 15 September, 2012. Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich coined the expression “iatrogenic medicine” to describe illness generated by the actions of physicians. An example is when the doctors prescribe some medicine, with resultant side effects, which are treated by further medication. The cycle repeats until a specialist reviews the patient’s entire record and stops all…
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The Course Of Prices: 1860 to Today

This entry was posted in Macroeconomics & Money, Political Economy & History, Statistics on by .

An appendix for Not in Narrow Seas: New Zealand History from an Economic Perspective The work was funded by a grant from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand which is not responsible for any errors or interpretations. A version was presented to an RBNZ seminar on 1 March 2012. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy…
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The Political Economy Of the Consumer Price Index

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A Research Gathering: Viewing New Zealand’s Social, Economic and Political History Through the Eyes of the CPI; 15 July, 2010 Keywords: Political Economy & History; Statistics; My task today is to convey that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) occurs in an economic, political and social context. That does not mean that the statistic lacks authority,…
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Growth and Recessions Of Economic Output: 1861-1939

This entry was posted in Macroeconomics & Money, Political Economy & History, Statistics on by .

This is an appendix for ‘Not in Narrow Seas: New Zealand History from an Economic Perspective’, a book I am writing. It is published here so that people can access the technical material. The data is available on request. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History; Statistics; Over the last sixty years we have…
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Debt and Equity in Nz’s International Investment Position.

This entry was posted in Macroeconomics & Money, Statistics on by .

I wrote this note to clarify some matters to myself; I shant be surprise if they become more prominent in 2011. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Statistics; I have been looking at the International Investment Position focusing on the equity to debt ratio, in effect thinking about New Zealand’s external balance sheet as if it were…
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Drinking and Self Assessed Welfare: a Statistical Analysis

This entry was posted in Health, Statistics on by .

This is the draft of a paper for 2009 Conference of the New Zealand Statistical Association, 3 September 2009. The presentation was a PowerPoint based on it. It is part of a study of the impact of drinking by associates undertaken by the  Centre for Social and Health Outcomes, Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University….
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