This paper utilises the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s (ACONF) cohort to investigate how both perinatal factors and changes in a child's environment impacts on IQ development between the ages of 7 and 11 years. Two methodological frameworks were utilised; (1) linear and logistic regression, the...

The New Zealand health care sector stands out relative to other OECD countries, with relatively low per-capita health expenditure and a public dominant health system. Efficient allocation of resources is therefore paramount. This paper creates a predictive model for patient volume using the...

Mental health status often has a strong association with labour market outcomes. If people in temporary employment have poorer mental health than those in permanent employment then it is consistent with two mutually inclusive possibilities: temporary employment generates adverse mental health...

Recent years have seen a push for greater labour market flexibility, and an accompanying upsurge of interest in temporary employment and the negative outcomes often associated with such employment arrangements. This study focusses on the pay outcome and investigates the presence of wage...

This study empirically examines the impact of warrantless arrest laws (designed to deter domestic violence) on multiple youth outcomes. Utilizing variation in the timing of implementation of the laws, and employing a difference in differences framework, we examine both the direct and indirect...

There are substantial ethnic gaps in higher education in NZ, despite more than a decade of considerable policy effort aimed at this concern. This study uses newly linked administrative data to examine the underachievement of Māori and Pasifika relative to Europeans. We follow a population...

Using recent data, and a variety of econometric techniques, this study examines the gender pay gap in New Zealand (NZ). The need for this study arises as the information that is regularly cited on the pay gap (based on average or median earnings for males and females) does not control for...

The right to redevelop a residential property can carry a significant positive premium. Although the existing literature has examined how this redevelopment premium is affected by the inherent characteristics of a residential structure, comparatively little research has focussed on how land use...

We study the effect of mothers' smoking during pregnancy on children's body weight outcomes during pre-school ages using a nationally representative sample of children surveyed in NLSY79 Children and Young Adults. Exploiting 'within mother and across pregnancies' variation in smoking behavior,...

New Zealand introduced a substantial childcare subsidy just over a decade ago, providing 20 hours free early childhood education (ECE) to all three- and four-year-olds. We evaluate the impact of this policy shift on mothers' labour market participation and earnings. Using a...