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 the...

This paper examines the firm-level determinants of foreign acquisitions of New Zealand companies, and the consequences for both the purchased firms and the workers within those firms. We follow a combined propensity score matching and difference-in-differences approach to identify and address...

We present a descriptive analysis of firm-level merchandise trade, focussing on the role of entrepreneurial exporting behaviour. We document two aspects of the dynamics of trade – the contribution of novel export activity to aggregate trade growth and, conversely, the substantial exit rates of...

We examine product and market entry choices of New Zealand exporters, using an enterprise level dataset which links firm performance measures with detailed data on merchandise trade. We focus our enquiry not on the broad question of what determines a firm's ability to export, but on the...

This paper investigates the impact of port infrastructure on exporter behaviour, focusing on the opening of Metroport, a new inland port in Auckland. We model adoption of the new port facilities among local firms, and then relate uptake to future export growth performance. We find that the main...

How do exporting firms manage currency exposures? We examine this issue at the firm level using comprehensive data from the prototype Longitudinal Business Database recently developed by Statistics New Zealand. We use these data to test both optimal and selective hedging theories. Optimal...

How do personnel practices affect firm performance?To examine this issue we use a panel of over 1,500 New Zealand firms, drawn from a diverse range of industries.The panel comprises respondents to official surveys of management practices in 2001 and 2005. These surveys ask a wide range of...

Both the literature and new empirical evidence show that exchange rate regimes differ primarily by the noisiness of the exchange rate, not by measurable macroeconomic fundamentals. This motivates a theoretical analysis of exchange rate regimes with noise traders. The presence of noise traders...

This paper investigates differences in time series behaviour of real output and the price levels in seven countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) under alternative exchange rate systems. Quarterly data spanning the Bretton-Woods and...

The qualitative responses that firms give to business survey questions regarding changes in their own output provide a real-time signal of official output changes. The most commonly-used method to produce an aggregate quantitative indicator from business survey responses - the net balance, or...