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Working Papers
Motu working papers are research materials circulated by their authors for the purpose of information and discussion. They are reviewed, but not formally refereed. Any opinions expressed in papers are those of the author and do not represent a Motu position.
Investigation of Options for a New Longitudinal Household Survey: Issues and Options Paper
We examine arguments for a new Longitudinal Household Survey (LHS) in New Zealand, and design and governance arrangements that would best realise the value of a new LHS. Other instruments such as cohort studies, cross-sectional surveys, the census and longitudinally linked administrative...
Crawford, Ron, and David C. Maré. 2013. "Investigation of Options for a New Longitudinal Household Survey: Issues and Options Paper", Motu Working Paper 13-04, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentThe Costs of Involuntary Job Loss: Impacts on Workers’ Employment and Earnings
This paper examines the incidence of involuntary job loss and its impact on the employment and earnings of affected workers, using data from the Survey of Families, Incomes and Employment (SoFIE) for the 2002–09 period. It focusses on employees who had been working in their job for at least...
Dixon, Sylvia, and David C. Maré. 2013. "The Costs of Involuntary Job Loss: Impacts on Workers’ Employment and Earnings," Motu Working Paper 13-03, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington. Co-published by MBIE and also available from them.
A New Zealand Regional Housing Model
The New Zealand Regional Housing Model (NZRHM) includes estimated equations for four key housing market variables: house prices, housing supply (new dwelling consents), residential vacant land (lot) prices, and average rents. Long run (cointegration) relationships and short run (error...
Grimes, Arthur, and Sean Hyland, with Andrew Coleman, James Kerr and Alex Collier. 2013. "A New Zealand Regional Housing Model," Motu Working Paper 13-02, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Export Performance, Invoice Currency, and Heterogeneous Exchange Rate Pass-Through
Using comprehensive, shipment-level merchandise trade data, we examine the extent to which New Zealand exporters maintain stable New Zealand dollar prices by passing on exchange rate changes to foreign customers. We find that the extent to which firms absorb exchange rate fluctuations in...
Fabling, Richard, and Lynda Sanderson. 2013. "Export Performance, Invoice Currency, and Heterogeneous Exchange Rate Pass-Through," Motu Working Paper 13-01, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Roadmap for Implementing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System in Chile: Core Design Options and Policy Decision-Making Considerations
This report was also published by the World Bank and is available here.
Motu and partners were contracted by the World Bank through its Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) initiative to “Draft a proposal for the implementation in Chile of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (ETS)”....
Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. 2012. "Roadmap for Implementing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System in Chile: Core Design Options and Policy Decision-Making Considerations," Motu Working Paper 12-14, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Performance Pay Systems and the Gender Wage Gap
We examine the relationship between performance pay systems and wages, paying particular attention to gender differences in outcomes. At the firm level, estimates suggest average wages are unaffected by changes in performance pay practices, but that the within-firm distribution of wages is...
Fabling, Richard, Arthur Grimes and David C. Maré. 2012. "Performance Pay Systems and the Gender Wage Gap," Motu Working Paper 12-13, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentThe Economics of International Policy Agreements to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation
An updated version of this paper was published in the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy. Please cite the updated version.
This paper provides a synthesis of the key conceptual insights from economics that can contribute to the design of effective, efficient, and fair international...
Kerr, Suzi. 2012. "The Economics of International Policy Agreements to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation," Motu Working Paper 12-12, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Pension Payments and Receipts by New Zealand Birth Cohorts, 1916–1986
This paper analyses how much different cohorts can expect to contribute into the PAYGO-funded New Zealand Superannuation scheme, and contrasts it with the amount each cohort can be expected to obtain in benefits if the current scheme is continued. The analysis is based on historic census...
Coleman, Andrew. 2012. "Pension Payments and Receipts by New Zealand Birth Cohorts, 1916–1986", Motu Working Paper 12-11, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentSpatial and Temporal Responses to an Emissions Trading System Covering Agriculture and Forestry: Simulation Results from New Zealand
Please note that an updated version of this paper was recently published in Forests 3:4, pp. 1133–56.
We perform simulations using the integrated Land Use in Rural New Zealand (LURNZ) model to analyse the effect of various New Zealand emissions trading scheme (ETS) scenarios on land-use,...
Kerr, Suzi, Simon Anastasiadis, Alex Olssen, William Power, Levente Tímár and Wei Zhang. 2012. "Spatial and Temporal Responses to an Emissions Trading System Covering Agriculture and Forestry: Simulation Results from New Zealand," Motu Working Paper 12-10, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentDoes Money Buy Me Love? Testing Alternative Measures of National Wellbeing
Many aggregate measures of wellbeing and sustainability exist to guide policy-makers. However, the power of these aggregate measures to predict objective wellbeing outcomes has received little comparative testing. We compile and compare a range of aggregate wellbeing measures including:...
Grimes, Arthur, Les Oxley and Nicholas Tarrant. 2012. "Does Money Buy Me Love? Testing Alternative Measures of National Wellbeing," Motu Working Paper 12-09, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentPrice, Quality, and International Agricultural Trade
The average value of a particular class of agricultural exports varies widely across different destinations. This raises the question: in the event of a supply shock, such as the implementation of the Emissions Trading Scheme, can farmers offset higher costs by raising their average prices...
Woods, Darian, with Andrew Coleman. 2012. "Price, Quality, and International Agricultural Trade", Motu Working Paper 12-08, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
A Forest-Profit Expectations Dataset for New Zealand, 1990–2008
In this paper, we construct a dataset of annual expected forest profits in New Zealand from 1990–2008 at a fine spatial resolution. We do not include land values in any of our profit calculations. We estimate four measures of expected forest profits based around net present value (NPV),...
Olssen, Alex, Wei Zhang, David Evison, and Suzi Kerr. 2012. "A Forest-Profit Expectations Dataset for New Zealand, 1990–2008," Motu Working Paper 12-07, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentGradual Land-use Change in New Zealand: Results from a Dynamic Econometric Model
Rural land use is important for New Zealand’s economic and environmental outcomes. Using a dynamic econometric model and recent New Zealand data, we estimate the response of land use to changing economic returns as proxied by relevant commodity prices. Because New Zealand is small, export...
Kerr, Suzi, and Alex Olssen. 2012. "Gradual Land-use Change in New Zealand: Results from a Dynamic Econometric Model", Motu Working Paper 12-06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentBook Translations as Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge
We use book translations as a new measure of international idea flows and study the effects of Communism’s collapse in Eastern Europe on these flows. Using novel data on 800,000 translations and difference-in-differences approaches, we show that while translations between Communist...
Abramitzky, Ran, and Isabelle Sin. 2012. "Book Translations as Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge," Motu Working Paper 12-05, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentCyclical Labour Market Adjustment in New Zealand: The Response of Firms to the Global Financial Crisis and its Implications for Workers
This paper examines the dynamics of employment adjustment in New Zealand, focusing on the response of firms to the 2008/09 Global Financial Crisis. We use data from Statistics New Zealand’s prototype Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) to examine firms’ employment responses to output...
Fabling, Richard, and David C. Maré. 2012. "Cyclical Labour Market Adjustment in New Zealand: The Response of Firms to the Global Financial Crisis and its Implications for Workers", Motu Working Paper 12-04, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
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