This paper describes and analyses the recommendations of the government’s covid-19 advisers, with particular emphasis on their use or otherwise of cost-benefit analysis (CBA). In respect of Professors Baker and Wilson, their views markedly fluctuated: on whether mitigation or elimination was...

There seems to be a widely held view or suspicion in New Zealand that this country's real cost of capital is high, and that this obstructs investment and/or places New Zealand firms at a disadvantage to foreign competitors. Motivated by these concerns this paper examines the following...

One of the most significant assets held by individual New Zealanders, with a matching liability to taxpayers, is the pension entitlements of the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF). These entitlements are of the "defined benefit" rather than "defined contribution" form, i.e., they are...

This paper documents historical returns to equities and long-term government bonds, bond yields and inflation rates in New Zealand over the period 1931-2002. Personal tax rates on various types of investment income are also estimated. This data is used to estimate the market risk premiums in two...

This paper compares the revenues resulting from the Officer model, which is generally used by Australian regulatory bodies, the simplified Brennan-Lally model, which is used by the New Zealand regulatory body, the Sharpe-Lintner-Mossin model, which is widely used in other regulatory regimes, and...