Matt Nolan • Jun 05, 2014 •
Via Gareth Morgan on twitter I spotted the following post from the University of Otago Public Health blog. The money quote: They found that the biggest impact of a minimum price policy was on “harmful” drinkers in the lowest income quintile (7.6% reduction in alcohol), whereas the impact on harmful drinkers in the highest income quintile […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jun 04, 2014 •
Today I wrote a brief post on the Green announcement of a carbon tax. I do support the carbon tax, but just wanted to raise some specific issues to think about. However, a number of people on twitter were unhappy with me saying that, without Kyoto, we didn’t have an externality here – and I […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jun 04, 2014 •
I see that the Greens have announced a carbon tax to replace the emissions trading scheme (with details and analysis by BERL here). The authors of TVHE have long been a fan of this type of switch when discussing the issue (eg here and here). And the idea of pricing an externality and using it […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 28, 2014 •
I hate one chart posts. No that was too weak, I despise single chart posts. But given that I am under the thumb of greater forces than myself (my thesis, my job) I have decided to do one. So what is this chart that tells us about the NZ labour market recovery? It is actually […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 26, 2014 •
I endorse this post by Aaron Schiff – go read it. You will also notice in the above chart that over the past ten years the number of arrivals has been relatively steady with a slight upwards trend, while departures is more volatile. Thus temporary spikes in net migration seem to be caused more often […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 22, 2014 •
I see that there is a new paper out discussing the fact that both tradable and non-tradable prices in New Zealand are “high” relative to what people are paying around the rest of the world. I am used to the argument about non-tradable prices being high RELATIVE to tradable prices, but the tradable price argument […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 19, 2014 •
I see that the Spirit Level authors are in town, and as a result there was a recent Herald article took aim at income inequality in New Zealand, relying strongly on the book ‘The Spirit Level’. A conversation about the inequalities society believes are fair, or at least justifiable, is a good thing. However, the […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 05, 2014 •
It is received wisdom that Auckland has had a housing “shortage” for a prolonged period of time due to insufficient supply. However, on the face of it this is a bit strange as: Residential investment: Yes building rates have been low during the past 7 years, but the value of residential investment in the prior […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 05, 2014 •
Note: I realise I have been writing about Labour’s policies and not other parties – I have been very busy, and only write about things when I get a chance. If you want me to write about any specific party policy, email me, and I will try to have a go Labour is talking about […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • May 02, 2014 •
I know, I know, I’m very late to the party – while I was busily writing about factor shares and income inequality the big news in New Zealand was this discussion of how our housing market is a “bubble”! A bunch of points have already been made about why the US to NZ comparison isn’t […] … Read More