Isabelle Sin

Maori Incomes: Investigating Differences Between Iwi

This paper investigates several factors that may be important for improving Maori outcomes, and the extent to which their importance varies by iwi. Specifically, it examines the extent to which controlling for differences in characteristics of the European population and the populations of various iwi can account for the differences in income distribution between the groups. It finds that qualification levels are important-they account for an average of approximately 29% of the difference between iwi and European incomes. The differing age distributions and the proportions of the population with different work and labour force statuses also account for much of the difference. Residence in different types of urban or rural area appears less relevant, as does residence in different regional council areas. The sizes of the influences of the different factors vary considerably by iwi and sometimes by gender. This suggests that policies aimed at improving Maori incomes may be more cost-effective if they target specific iwi.

The Geographical Mobility of Māori in New Zealand

This paper describes the geographical location and internal mobility of the Mâori ethnic group in New Zealand between 1991 and 2001. It is often suggested that Mâori are less mobile than other ethnic groups because of attachment to particular geographical locations. We compare the mobility of Mâori in particular locations to the mobility of similar Europeans in those same locations and find that, contrary to this anecdotal evidence, most Mâori are, on average, more mobile than Europeans in New Zealand. We do find that the roughly forty percent of Mâori who live in areas local to their iwi (tribe) are less mobile than comparable Europeans in those same areas. Defining local areas both based on both traditional iwi locations and current iwi populations, we find suggestive evidence that social ties are more important than land-based attachment in explaining why these Mâori are relatively less mobile, but that land- based attachment is also an important impediment to mobility.

Diffusion of Green Technology: A Survey

This paper surveys the existing literature on diffusion of environmentally beneficial technology. Overall, it confirms many of the lessons of the larger literature on technology diffusion: diffusion often appears slow when viewed from the outside; the flow of information is an important factor in the diffusion process; networks and organisations can matter; behavioural factors such as values and cognitive biases also play a role. With respect to policy instruments, there is some evidence that the flexibility of market-based instruments can have a beneficial impact on technology diffusion, but there are also numerous cases in which regulations have forced the adoption of new technologies. There would be significant benefit to increased investment in studies that look at questions such as the role of information provision, networks and framing issues in households’ and firms’ adoption decisions.

How did removing student allowances for postgraduate study affect students choices

From 1 January 2013, students in New Zealand who entered postgraduate qualifications other than Honours were no longer eligible to receive student allowances. We use individual-level administrative data that includes tertiary enrolment information, student allowance receipt, student loan borrowing, and wage earnings to investigate whether the policy affected students’ choices. We use a student’s allowance receipt as an undergraduate or her borrowing for course fees as a postgraduate to proxy for her counterfactual allowance eligibility. We use this proxy to compare allowance-eligible and allowance-ineligible students who enter an affected postgraduate qualification or an unaffected Honours degree. Although we are not able to cleanly estimate the causal effect of the policy, our results do not suggest that the policy affected the number or type of postgraduate entrants, their choice between part-time and full-time study, the amount of paid work they performed while studying, or their rates of dropping out. However, our results strongly suggest that students who became ineligible for allowances increased their student loan borrowing for living expenses.

What drives the gender wage gap? Examining the roles of sorting, productivity differences, and discrimination.

As in other OECD countries, women in New Zealand earn substantially less than men with similar observable characteristics. In this paper, we use a decade of annual wage and productivity data from New Zealand’s Linked Employer-Employee Database to examine different explanations for this gender wage gap. Sorting by gender at either the industry or firm level explains less than one-fifth of the overall wage gap. Gender differences in productivity within firms also explain little of the difference seen in wages. The relationships between the gender wage-productivity gap and both age and tenure are inconsistent with statistical discrimination being an important explanatory factor for the remaining differences in wages. Relating across industry and over time variation in the gender wage-productivity gap to industry-year variation in worker skills, and product market and labour market competition, we find evidence that is consistent with taste discrimination being important for explaining the overall gender wage gap. Explanations based on gender differences in bargaining power are less consistent with our findings.

The Effect of Trial Periods in Employment on Firm Hiring Behaviour

An amendment to legislation in 2009 enabled New Zealand firms with fewer than 20 employees to hire new workers on trial periods. The scheme was subsequently extended to employers of all sizes. The policy was intended to encourage firms to take on more employees, and particularly more disadvantaged job seekers, by reducing the risk associated with hiring an unknown worker. We use unit record linked employer-employee data and the staggered introduction of the policy for firms of different sizes to assess the policy effect on firm hiring behaviour. We find no evidence that the policy affected the number of hires by firms on average, either overall or into employment that lasted beyond the trial period. We also do not find an effect on hiring of disadvantaged jobseekers. However, our results suggest that the policy increased hiring in industries with high use of trial periods by 10.3 percent.