This paper introduces newly coded information describing province- and year-specific variation in work requirements, diversion, earning exemptions, and time limits. This new information reveals a large decline in the chance of welfare participation of at least 1.1 percentage points (9.2%...

This paper exploits the existence of the trans-Tasman travel agreement and the availability of comparable census data in Australia and New Zealand to examine the extent to which individuals respond to different labour market conditions in the two countries (and their subregions), as well as...

This study uses artificial neural networks (ANNs) to reproduce aggregate per-capita consumption patterns for the New Zealand economy. Results suggest that non-linear ANNs can outperform a linear econometric model at out-of-sample forecasting. The best ANN at matching in-sample data, however, is...

This paper develops a bioeconomic model that captures the underlying incentives driving the serial depletion of pristine seamounts. The determinants under New Zealand's Quota Management System relate to unit cost savings from bottom trawling for orange roughy on seamounts, where catch rates are...

Data show that educated workers earn higher wages and experience lower unemployment rates. Some researchers believe this occurs because education improves a worker's productivity (or human capital), making them more desirable on the job market. Other researchers believe schooling improves a...

This paper investigates an appropriate choice of anchor currency for a proposed Melanesian currency union under various hypothetical currency union arrangements. Drawing from the optimal currency area (OCA) theory and related extensions, the analysis focuses on the effects of a currency union on...

This paper analyses an entry timing game with uncertain entry costs. Two firms receive costless signals about the cost of a new project and decide when to invest. We characterize the equilibrium of the investment timing game with private and public signals. We show that competition leads the two...

Most studies find that relative price variability (RPV) is a U-shaped or V-shaped function of anticipated inflation, and a V-shaped function of unanticipated inflation. One exception is Reinsdorf (1994), who finds that RPV in the United States during the 1980s recession was monotonically...

On-going debate of a Pacific Islands currency union has rekindled the argument on whether Pacific Island Countries (PICs) demonstrate symmetric behavior in their business cycles as a precondition for a union according to the OCA theory. Unfortunately for the PICs, there are no empirical studies...

We analyse the impact of proposed changes in US legislation to allow greater use of dairy concentrate products in the production of fresh milk products. This change could potentially have a large impact on dairy trade as US tariffs on concentrated dairy products are low relative to average dairy...