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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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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This note was originally much more elaborate, because I had a very complicated account of what I thought McIlraith was trying to do. And then I worked out the following. A bit of a let down, but here to save others doing the same. Keywords: Statistics; James Wordsworth McIlraith (1877-195?[1]) is best remembered for his…
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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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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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This was a note I prepared following a discussion on some troubling statistics. 1 March, 2010. Keywords: Labour Studies; Statistics; Suppose you did exactly the same job for the whole of your life. How do you think your wages would increase the same as inflation, or faster? I cant be sure of the answer for…
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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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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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Speech to Launch the Report “New Insights into the Experienced Generation” for the Hope Foundation, 30 July 2009 Keywords: Social Policy; Statistics; This report represents a further step to our understanding of ourselves as a society. Only a few decades ago we treated all New Zealanders as the same, with the implicit assumption…
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Paper to the 50th Anniversary Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists: 1 July, 2009: Wellington. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Statistics; This paper looks only at the first 25 years of the New Zealand research program on economic growth. It focuses on the empirical analysis but refers…
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One Stop Update for Accountants in the Public Sector 20 April 2009, Wellington. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Statistics; Balance sheets are integrally involved in the greatest economic crisis in our lifetime. So while my remit is to provide the conference with an economic context to its deliberations, I have to engage with accountancy….
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Paper to the Wellington Statistical Group, 2 February, 2009. (With Quan (Ryan) You Analyst, Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), of Massey University.) Keywords: Health; Statistics; In 2007 the Ministry of Health commissioned Massey University’s Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE) and Te Ropu Whariki…
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Report to Ministry of Health by Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation & Te Ropu Whariki, Massey University. Keywords: Health; Statistics; “The report of the project Assessment of the Social Impacts of Gambling in New Zealand was primarily written by En-Yi (Judy) Lin and Sally Casswell with analysis by Ru…
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Are journalists making the economic situation seem worse? Listener 31 May, 2008 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Statistics; What is happening to journalism? You will recall that, last year, journalists campaigned for tax cuts based on a total misunderstanding of the Government accounts. They used the wrong measure of the Budget surplus, which…
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Revised Paper for a Seminar, 15 May 2008 Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Statistics; I have been asked to make a few remarks on research into economic growth in New Zealand. Let me begin with some preliminaries. Policy I am going to avoid suggesting any policy conclusions which might follow from the…
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Note prepared 6 April, 2008. Keywords: Distributional Economics; Statistics; The conventional Engel Curve relates expenditure on (usually) food (F) to aggregate household (usually) expenditure (X). Since it is a one-to-one relation it my be mathematically inverted to (1) X = f(F, z) where z is a vector of other variables which…
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Listener: 22 March, 2008. Keywords: Social Policy; Statistics; “Incentives matter” is a routine part of economists’ thinking. Tax a commodity, its price goes up and there is an incentive to reduce consumption. Reduce the tax, the price goes down and the incentive goes the other way. But many real-life circumstances are more complex, and the…
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The 11th Annual Public Sector Finance Forum. 10 September, 2007 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Regulation & Taxation; Statistics; It has been my lot to be asked to give two papers to this Public Sector Finance Forum. Today’s paper might be called the ‘macroeconomics’ paper, in which I look at the size of…
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The 11th Annual Public Sector Finance Forum. 11 September, 2007 Keywords: Governance; Regulation & Taxation; Statistics; In my paper yesterday, I argued that we too frequently misuse data for rhetorical and political purposes. Today’s paper is an extension of that theme, but it focuses on a less conscious process, while providing an…
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The 11th Annual Public Sector Finance Forum. 10 September, 2007 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Regulation & Taxation; Statistics; It has been my lot to be asked to give two papers to this Public Sector Finance Forum. Today’s paper might be called the ‘macroeconomics’ paper, in which I look at the size of the…
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