How do private returns to tertiary education in New Zealand compare internationally? According to the latest OECD measures, the private rate of return for New Zealand is 8.9%, compared to an OECD average of 12.4%, placing New Zealand toward the bottom of the OECD ranking. The aim of this study...

The Phase I CEPEA Study Group report presented an overview of CEPEA’s objectives and scope, estimated the economic impact of a comprehensive agreement and provided some high level suggestions regarding selected key elements of such an agreement. This report builds on, and explores new ground,...

This paper aims to highlight the continued importance to New Zealand’s economic future of having a vibrant farming sector. It argues that New Zealand policymakers cannot afford to ignore or downplay the contribution of the primary sector in favour of promoting ‘sexy’ industries such as ICT...

The relative decline in unskilled wages worldwide has prompted some commentators to place the blame on globalisation and trade liberalisation. A more likely cause in the New Zealand context is technical change that favours the employment of skilled labour. This hypothesis is tested using shift...

This is a scoping study. It summarises the dynamics of services trade in the world economy and discusses some of the benefits of services trade liberalisation from a qualitative and quantitative view point. We place particular emphasis on the role and interests of developing and least developed...

In 1995 all Australian state and territory governments entered into an agreement with the federal government to introduce a comprehensive program of national competition policy (NCP) reforms. A number of studies have attempted to assess the benefits of these reforms by (i) estimating, via data...

Many studies, both of Australia and of comparable developed economies, have found that the economic benefits from investment in urban infrastructure are substantial. However the nature of this infrastructure is often such that it is under-provided by the private sector. In Australia, much of the...

In recent years many universities have commissioned studies of the effect of their institution on the local economy. Typically these impact studies have concentrated on the demand-side stimuli to the regional economy that the university generates. Normally, the studies are undertaken with...

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the most complex and also the most costly of all EU policies. It comprises over 40 financing streams, including Pillar I and Pillar II measures which are highly regulated. In the case of Poland, these are directed to all 16 NUTS2 regions. We are...