We present evidence that the political orientation of the government (left vs. right) affects corporate performance. We hypothesize that companies within labour-intensive industries polluting industries industries with high profit margins and highly leveraged industries are more sensitive to...

Pinar Bagci presented Making Economic Regulation More Effective: The Case of NZ Electricity Networks in Wellington July 2007.

In many countries current water-pricing policies are dictated by the sole objective of breaking-even in each period. This results in large withdrawals which are not sustainable in the long-run hence not optimal. In this paper I derive the optimal dynamic water resource management policy of a...

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.

The privatisation of state-owned assets a defining characteristic of the 1980s was not restricted to the United Kingdom. In New Zealand the Labour Government which took office in 1984 was committed to a policy of what was known at the time as 'corporatisation' - converting government departments...

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

How do industry structures and other institutional arrangements affect growth and innovation in the New Zealand agricultural sector? Put another way how can those structures and arrangements be improved to better facilitate growth and innovation in the New Zealand agricultural sector? Addressing...

The last thirty years have witnessed a fundamental change in the regulation of infrastructure industries. Whereas firms were subject to rate of return regulation and protected from entry in the past now they face various forms of incentive regulation competition is actively promoted by many...

Toby Daglish and Nimesh Patel discuss the rationale behind banks charging break-fees to recoup their losses as a result of customers prepaying loans. Next they chart the historical levels of these for New Zealand. Lastly they develop a model which allows for fluctuations both in banks' wholesale...