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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.
Trading Efficiency in Water Quality Trading Markets: An Assessment of Trade-Offs
Declining water quality as a result of increased nutrient leaching is a serious and growing concern, both internationally and in New Zealand. Water pollution issues have traditionally been addressed with command-and-control type regulation, but market-based nutrient trading schemes are...
McDonald, Hugh, and Suzi Kerr. 2011. "Trading Efficiency in Water Quality Trading Markets: An Assessment of Trade-Offs," Motu Working Paper 11-15, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentDoes Complex Hydrology Require Complex Water Quality Policy? NManager Simulations for Lake Rotorua
This paper examines six different approaches to nutrient management, and simulates the economic costs and environmental impacts associated with them using NManager, a partial equilibrium simulation model developed by Motu and NIWA, the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research....
Anastasiadis, Simon, Marie-Laure Nauleau, Suzi Kerr, Tim Cox, and Kit Rutherford. 2011. "Does Complex Hydrology Require Complex Water Policy? NManager Simulations for Lake Rotorua," Motu Working Paper 11-14, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentRural Land Use and Land Tenure in New Zealand
Private land-use decisions are critical for a broad spectrum of environmental and social outcomes, ranging from water quality and climate change to rural income distribution. I use a large dataset of the land-use decisions of New Zealand landowners to estimate a cross-sectional multinomial...
Tímár, Levente. 2011. "Rural Land Use and Land Tenure in New Zealand," Motu Working Paper 11-13, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentBuilding Bridges: Treating a New Transport Link as a Real Option
A transportation investment that materially improves links between centres opens up previously unavailable options for new activities. Traditional cost-benefit analysis does not adequately take account of the value of this option; real options theory must be added to the analysis to...
Grimes, Arthur. 2011. "Building Bridges: Treating a New Transport Link as a Real Option," Motu Working Paper 11-12, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentHomeownership, Social Capital and Parental Voice in Schooling
We investigate the effects of homeownership on parents’ involvement in local school elections. We use 2007 New Zealand school board of trustees data to examine whether schools where parents have high rates of homeownership experience high parental voting turnout in elections. We also...
Grimes, Arthur, Steven Stillman and Chris Young. 2011. "Homeownership, Social Capital and Parental Voice in Schooling," Motu Working Paper 11-11, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentProductivity and Local Workforce Composition
This chapter examines the link between firm productivity and the population composition of the areas in which firms operate. We combine annual firm-level microdata on production, covering a large proportion of the New Zealand economy, with area-level workforce characteristics obtained from...
Maré, David C., and Richard Fabling. "Productivity and Local Workforce Composition," Motu Working Paper 11-10, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentPreliminary Evidence on Responses to the New Zealand Forestry Emissions Trading Scheme
New Zealand is the first country to implement a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that includes a forestry component as part of its contribution to global climate mitigation and as a strategy for compliance with the international climate change agreement the Kyoto Protocol. The...
Karpas, Eric, and Suzi Kerr. 2011. "Preliminary Evidence on Responses to the New Zealand Forestry Emissions Trading Scheme," Motu Working Paper 11-09, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentPatterns of Business Location in Auckland
We investigate the spatial determinants of industrial location and productivity variation within the Auckland Urban Area. For over 300 local areas, we consider the influence on location choice and productivity of proximity to selected infrastructure, local services, and consumption...
Maré, David C., and Andrew Coleman. 2011. "Patterns of Business Location in Auckland," Motu Working Paper 11-08, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentEstimating the Determinants of Population Location in Auckland
This paper analyses the location choices of new entrants to Auckland between 1996 and 2006, to identify a systematic relationship between residential location choices and features of local areas such as population density, the population composition of the area or its neighbourhood,...
Maré, David C., and Andrew Coleman. 2011. "Estimating the Determinants of Population Location in Auckland," Motu Working Paper 11-07, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington
Patterns of Population Location in Auckland
This paper uses spatial statistical techniques to examine the economic determinants of residential location patterns in Auckland in 2006. The primary empirical focus of this paper is descriptive. We seek to establish the extent to which there are identifiable population subgroups that...
Maré, David C., Andrew Coleman and Ruth Pinkerton. 2011. "Patterns of Population Location in Auckland," Motu Working Paper 11-06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentImmigration and Innovation
We combine firm-level innovation data with area-level Census data to examine the relationship between local workforce characteristics, especially the presence of immigrants and local skills, and the likelihood of innovation by firms. We examine a range of innovation outcomes, and test the...
Maré, David C., Richard Fabling and Steven Stillman. 2011. "Immigration and Innovation," Motu Working Paper 11-05, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Financial Contracts and the Management of Carbon Emissions in Small Scale Plantation Forests
Under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, foresters can obtain carbon units as their forests sequester carbon. If they sell these units as they are earned, the units must be repurchased when the forest is harvested, exposing foresters to price risk. This paper examines the way forward...
Coleman, Andrew. 2011. "Financial Contracts and the Management of Carbon Emissions in Small Scale Plantation Forests," Motu Working Paper 11-04. Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.
Download documentDoes Selling State Silver Generate Private Gold? Determinants and Impacts of State House Sales and Acquisitions in New Zealand
New Zealand experienced two natural experiments with respect to state-provided social housing after 1990. First, while continuing to acquire new state houses, the National Government substantially reduced the overall state house stock by selling a greater number of houses either to existing...
Bergstrom, Katy, Arthur Grimes and Steve Stillman. 2011. "Does Selling State Silver Generate Private Gold? Determinants and Impacts of State House Sales and Acquisitions in New Zealand," Motu Working Paper 11-03.
Homeownership and Social Capital in New Zealand
Does homeownership affect individual social capital and thereby influence local outcomes? Following DiPasquale and Glaeser, a body of literature suggests that homeownership is positively related to social capital formation. Homeowners have an incentive to engage in the local community in...
Roskruge, Matthew, Arthur Grimes, Philip McCann & Jacques Poot. 2011. "Homeownership and Social Capital in New Zealand," Motu Working Paper 11-02
Keeping it Together: Tracking Firms in New Zealand’s Longitudinal Business Database
Having good longitudinal identifiers is important in empirical microeconomics, since researchers often need to be able to observe the same unit over time to make causal inferences. However, firm identifiers in Statistics New Zealand’s Longitudinal Business Database can be “broken” by, among...
Fabling, Richard. 2010. "Keeping it Together: Tracking Firms in New Zealand's Longitudinal Business Database," Motu Working Paper 11-01.
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