Imports into New Zealand are tax-free if the duty and GST payable is less than $60. This has resulted in an effective value threshold of between $226 and $399, significantly higher than many of our trading partners. We examine other nations’ thresholds and border practices with a view to...

Both the Australian and New Zealand governments have committed to spend substantial sums in order to bring forward the nationwide deployment of ultra-fast fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband networks. With deployment proceeding apace, two significant questions have arisen regarding the economic,...

Bronwyn Howell and Dave Heatley's presentation at the recent Internet New Zealand Ultrafast Broadband Workshop held in Wellington on 19 May 2010.

Current Comment is an occasional series providing economic commentary on topical issues. This second issue looks at local loop unbundling and whether this has increased New Zealand's broadband uptake.

Presentation by Bronwyn Howell to OPTA Den Haag on 13 September 2011.

Policy organizations such as the OECD and the EU have placed much emphasis on the role of local loop unbundling as a regulatory tool in stimulating the rollout and uptake of broadband technologies and consequently promoting the accrual of economic benefits from electronic commerce. However there...

The Internet and associated networks and devices are intruding throughout social and commercial activity. They are improving information exchange storage and utilisation to an extent that is re-shaping the structure and institutions of society that have evolved over centuries inresponse to...

In The State of e-New Zealand: 12 Months On we revisit the measures of New Zealand's preparedness to utilise and capitalise upon the economic and social benefits promised by the uses of electronic infrastructures addressed in our November 2000 paper The State of e-New Zealand. We acknowledge the...

Regulation binds incumbent firms to a different set of obligations from their entrant-competitors thereby creating an asymmetric set of options from which the firms may select the strategies under which they will interact. Whilst most regulatory obligations are specified in law some take the...

Bronwyn Howell presented Paying for the Doctors Strike and the Waiting List Cull at the GP's Surgery at LEANZ in August 2006.