Category Archives: Statistics

The Public Use Of ‘ethnicity’ Statistics

This entry was posted in Maori, Social Policy, Statistics on by .

This squib was published in Letters to the Editor, The Dominion, on the 26 May, 2001.  I discovered it recalled in a report, A Question of Ethnicity – One Word, Different People, Many Perceptions: the Perspectives of Groups Other Than Mäori, Pacific Peoples and New Zealand Europeans, a prepared for the Statistics New Zealand Review…
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Every Vote Counts: a Census for Posterity

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Listener 3 March, 2001

Keywords Statistics

Brian Pink, the Government Statistician, says the population census to be taken next Tuesday (March 6) ‘is a celebration of the democratic process’. It is a sort of a vote, with everyone in the country – not just adults – required to be included on a census form. Unlike an election which involves just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote for some political party, a census involves a wide range of questions, each chosen for some practical social purpose. (They have to be, because there are always more questions than can be fitted on the form.) So you will be contributing a list of important social attributes, putting in a vote for your gender group, your age group where you were born, your ethnicity ….

The Economic Status and Health Status Project

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

By Suzie Carson & Brian Easton

New Zealand Journal of Social Policy December 2000, p.121-128. Based on a paper presented to the 1999 Conference of the New Zealand Statistical Association, Wellington, July 5-7.

Executive Summary

The increasing use of the Household Economic Survey for policy purposes raises issues about the assumptions which are used for transforming the unit records into aggregates which underpin the social policy analysis. This paper reports upon an HRC funded project to investigate the relationship between personal health status and economic status (especially location in the household distribution, but also in relation to other measures). The project uses unit records of the Household Economic Survey for 1994/5-6/7 years when personal health status was recorded, using both objective and subjective measures. The paper explores some of the processing issues which the analysis is addressing.

Reforms, Risks, and Rogernomics

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

Invited Presentation to the Jubilee Conference of the New Zealand Statistical Society, 5-7 March, 1999, Wellington.

Keywords Political Economy & History; Statistics;

Fabian ‘… unless you do redeem it by some laudable attempt either of valour or policy.’
Sir Andrew Auguecheek ‘An’t be any way, it must be with valour; for policy I hate; …”
Twelfth Night

Introduction

Thankyou for the honour of being invited to speak to the Jubilee Conference of the New Zealand Statistical Association. My associations go back only two-thirds of its history, but they are experiences and friendships I greatly value. Indeed, had there been an academic career path in social statistics, I may well have ended up pri

Baths, Hogwash and Taxes

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

In the search for correlations, are economists forsaking rigorous standards for sloppiness?
Listener 12 July 1997

Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Regulation & Taxation;

Nobel prizewinning physicist Steven Weinberg recently wrote “the existence of a common standard of judgement leads physicists, who are no more saintly than economists, to question their own best work.” He was referring to Alan Guth who, having discovered the universe went through an inflationary phase early in its creation, nevertheless tested his own work to see whether the hypothesis was wrong. As Karl Popper says, be your own sternest critic. Is it fair to imply economists are less rigorous?

How Accurate Are the Incomes Reported in the Household Economic Survey?

This entry was posted in Statistics on by .

This paper was preliminary, and circulated for discussion in 1997 (This version revised in 2000). The issues it raises were taken up by Statistics New Zealand and have been largely dealt with. (A major revision has been to the household weightings. It is placed here on the website, because occassionally researchers using the earlier data ask for it. But it illustrates the universal rule of always checking one the quality of one’s data before using it

Keywords: Statistics;

Introduction

As the result of a generous grant for then Prince Albert College Trust, it has been possible to place in the public domain for research purposes, quasi-unit records (QURs) from the household economic survey (HES),[1] one of the regular surveys administered by Statistics New Zealand.

BRENDAN THOMPSON’S NEW ZEALAND WORKFORCE SERIES

This entry was posted in Labour Studies, Statistics on by .

Abstract Economic historian Brendan Thompson died earlier this year. His life’s scholarship involved calculating a series oft he New Zealand workforce. The paper reports on this work, and provides some of the aggregate data which Brendan had produced. Brendan James George Thompson, senior lecture in eco-nomic history at the University of Waikato, died in January…
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Poverty in New Zealand – 1981 to 1993

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

New Zealand Sociology November 1995, Vol 10, No 2, pp.182-214.
Note This version has yet to have the graphs added.

Keywords: Distributional Economics; Statistics;

Introduction1

After around two decades of modern poverty research in New Zealand which has focused on poverty at a point in time, it is now possible to provide estimates of the changing numbers of poor over time.

A Data Base Of Iwi

This entry was posted in Maori, Statistics on by .

Report for The Waitangi Tribunal (May 1995)

keywords: Maori; Statistics

The Data Base

Every individual living in New Zealand on the night of 5 March 1991, filled in a census form, which included a question about iwi membership.[1] Some 511,278 respondents (15.2 percent of the national total) gave a positive answer, of some form, to this question.[2] In addition 165,913 households (14.1 percent of the national total) were classified as Maori dwelling households with an iwi identification.

This computer program provides socioeconomic information about those respondents, and their households grouped together by iwi. (It does not hold unit data records.) The following is a description of the contents of the program, and the means of accession to the data. It should be emphasized that the access protocols are not simple, because as explained below, there are some restrictions on access. In addition there are numerous caveats which should be taken into consideration when obtaining and interpreting the data.

The Measurement Of Output: GDP

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This was written as Appendix 1.1 for an early draft of In Stormy Seas. In the process of reducing the text for publication it was dropped, but it turns up ghost like on page 11). This version is from the September 1994 version.

Keywords: Statistics;

Economists typically measure the output of an economy by Gross Domestic Product (at market prices), or GDP, that is the market production for some period usually over a year, or sometimes three months (a quarter). The basic notion is that the production of each commodity – good or service – is valued at market prices and totalled up, after deducting inputs.[1] It is a measure fraught with subtle assumptions.

Fishing and the Chatham Islands

This entry was posted in Business & Finance, Environment & Resources, Statistics on by .

AFFIDAVIT in the High Court of New Zealand BETWEEN Te Iwi Moriori Trust Board (First Plaintiff) Moriori Tchakat Henu Association of Rekohu Incorporated (Second Plaintiff) and The Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission (Defendant) (September 1993)

Keywords: Business & Finance; Environment & Resources; Maori; Statistics;

I, Brian Henry Easton, economist and social statistician of Wellington do swear

1. Following the obtaining of degrees in mathematics and economics I have practised for over 25 years in universities in New Zealand and overseas, in research institutions, and latterly as a private researcher and consultant. A copy of my short C. V. is attached. I have taught, researched, and written in many areas related to this case, including the economics of development.

2. I have been asked by the plaintiffs to assess the significance of the fishing industry to the Chatham Islands (Rekohu).

3. My basic conclusion is that the future of the Chatham Islands is vitally dependent upon its fishing industry, more so than any other region. I also indicate how a population based rule is especially against the interests of a region as dependent upon fishing as these islands.

Disputing Figures

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Listener: 11 June, 1990 Keywords: Statistics; A Treasury working paper, released under the Official Information Act, appeared to indicate that government expenditure was out of control. It said that between 1984-85 and 1988-89 ‘net expenditure at 1989/90 prices’ had grown from $23,594 million to $27 ,877 million. That is an increase of 18.1 percent, or…
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Lenin As a Statistician

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New Zealand Statistician, vol 8, May 1973, p8-9.   Keywords: Statistics;   It may seem strange that V.I. Lenin, (1870-1924) should be treated as a statistician. However, in its section on statistics the Soviet Encyclopedia [1] gives considerable prominence to Lenin. Undoubtedly this is partly the required acknowledgement to one of the founders of the…
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