This study analyses the economic aspects of housing tenure choice in New Zealand, 1960-80. The analysis proceeds by way of the building, refining and estimation of a model of household tenure choice, using a considerable body of micro-level data and aggregate time series. It is argued that the household faces a wealth constraint, a dual budget constraint, and minimum dwelling standard constraints, and that the household's tenure choice depends on the interaction of these constraints and its preference set. The budget constraint is a dual constraint because the true economic price of buying relative to that of renting generally differs from the 'outlay' price of buying relative to that of renting. The outlay prices of housing services are important for households with limited current income available for housing unless the household's wealth constraint is unusually loose. Considerable emphasis is placed on the modelling of the prices of housing services. A sub-model of landlord behaviour and the examination of the operation of the private rental housing market are directed at explaining the path over time of urban New Zealand rents. Sources of data are as follows. In considering prices and the various constraints on tenure choice I employ my own survey data, collected in Auckland, and time-series data from the New Zealand Department of Statistics (NZDS) and the New Zealand Valuation Department, together with crosstabulation data from various sources. I make use for the first time (for these purposes) of a body of data collected by the NZDS - their Household Sample Survey data - to estimate a cross-sectional tenure choice function. For the examination of national tenure choice trends I had to construct my own estimates of the private sector home-ownership rate. The chief conclusion of this study is that lack of wealth constrains the large majority of 'unwilling' private tenants (who are about three-quarters of all private tenants) to rent. Both interview evidence and cross-sectional econometric work support this conclusion. A second major finding is that the impact of the budget constraint on household tenure choice has varied considerably over time but in terms of economic prices, buying has been consistently (over the last two decades) cheaper than renting for the typical tenure-choosing household with a moderate marginal rate of time preference and a moderate planning period. In times of rapid dwelling appreciation the economic price of buying relative to that of renting is particularly low. In contrast, the outlay price of buying (comprising costs in the current period) has been considerably greater than the outlay price of renting, especially when nominal interest rates have been high, and this fact has undoubtedly deterred a significant a significant proportion of households from buying. Finally, the decline in the private sector home-ownership rate between 1961 and 1976 was found to be largely due to changes in the 'age:marital status:household size' structure of the population of households. These changes outweighed the net effect of economic factors which worked to raise the home-ownership rate until 1976.

Theoretical and empirical literature on inflation is extensive, and it abounds with diverse opinion. Principal works are of overseas origin; no substantial research has been published relating specifically to the New Zealand economy. This study does not attempt to develop a comprehensive theory of inflation, but has as its purpose the formulation of a simultaneous equation model to explain and predict movements in variables relevant to the inflationary process. The research has been conducted with New Zealand data and no econometric work on inflation yet published seems to have produced a model as embracing as the one advanced. This introduction has the following scope and content. First it conveys some idea of the extent of debate over what inflation is, this being done by brief references to various attempts at defining the phenomenon and to some of the different types of inflation advanced. Next, it questions more fundamentally 'what inflation is, and how, if' at all, the subject may be enlightened by further research. This leads on to derivation of an appropriate definition of inflation. Finally, an outline is given of the aspects of inflation to be investigated and the approach to be adopted.

Active labour market programmes are an important component of government labour market policy internationally and in New Zealand. The growth in unemployment, and in particular male and long term unemployment, since the mid 1980's in New Zealand have contributed to the enhanced role of active labour market programmes in government policy. In the early 1990's the New Zealand government introduced a menu of interventions including subsidy, work experience and training programmes. Concomitant with this development has been increased pressure from political, business and social groups to assess the effectiveness of this approach in lowering unemployment. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of active labour market policy utilised in New Zealand from 1989 to 1997. Whether or not these active labour market interventions were beneficial to those males who participated in them, the effect of treatment upon the treated, is the parameter estimated. The range of programmes makes it possible to analyse a number of programme evaluation issues. These include the overall question of the impact of subsidy, work experience and training programmes in general, but also other specific research questions. In particular the range of subsidy programmes makes it possible to identify that subsidies to private sector firms are more effective than those to public sector organisations. The effectiveness of start-up subsidies for the unemployed are also evaluated and found to be beneficial. The effects of participation upon selected education and ethnic groups are also estimated. Since there is no one estimation approach that works in all circumstances, both regression and matching estimators are used. In order to achieve this it is necessary to create two estimation datasets as the data requirements vary for each technique. The main findings from the research are that participation in active labour market programmes is beneficial in reducing the length of time that participants are registered as unemployed. Work experience programmes have the largest impact, followed by subsidies. The effect of training programmes is smallest. The major beneficial effect occurs in the year following participation and then reduces in subsequent years. There are also some important methodological findings, including the sensitivity of results to the time frame, to the datasets chosen, and to the estimation techniques used.

This thesis analyses three sets of issues that arise in the field of network economics. The first chapter following the introduction is concerned with modeling partial consumer participation in the context of two-way interconnection in telecommunications. Partial consumer participation is introduced into the model of competition between telecommunications networks developed by Armstrong (1998), Carter and Wright (1999) and Laffont et al (1998a). It is shown that the result that firms are indifferent over the access charge under two-part tariffs no longer holds when there is partial consumer participation. Under some additional simplifying assumptions, it is shown that firms prefer that the access charge is set equal to the marginal cost of termination. Without these additional assumptions the model is analytically complex and numerical simulation results are presented which shown that firms prefer the access charge to be less than marginal cost, while the socially optimal access charge is above cost. The next chapter considers competition between two-sided networks. Firms with two-sided networks facilitate connections or transactions between two distinct populations of consumers. This chapter analyses the behaviour of such firms where there are no intrinsic benefits to consumers other than the network effects, examples of which include employment agencies, real estate agents and videogame platforms. The modelling framework encompasses both matching service and platform business models and allows for subscription or per-transaction pricing. Three different market structures are considered: monopoly, and duopoly with and without compatibility. Comparisons of prices, profits, consumer surplus, and welfare are made between the three regimes. It is shown that one side of the market generally pays a lower price than the other, and the conditions under which one side of the market is charged a zero price are derived. It is also shown that duopoly with compatibility is socially preferable to the other regimes, while monopoly is socially preferable to duopoly without compatibility. The final chapter examines the reputation systems that are increasingly accompanying network businesses. This chapter explores the trade-off between the short-term benefits of false quality advertisements by sellers in a market with asymmetric information against the longer term costs of reputation damage. A directed search model is constructed in which submarkets are created by the advertisements and reputations of sellers. A reputation system links misleading advertisements in the present period to a lower reputation in the next period. It is shown that a reputation system always increases the prices of high quality products and directs search more accurately towards the sellers with such products. It is also shown that buyers are hurt by a reputation system if the market is thin - has few sellers – because the equilibrium increase in prices is greater than the equilibrium increase in the quality of trade. On the other hand, it is shown that submarket creation by a reputation system always increases total welfare because buyers' search is directed more accurately and the number of quality adjusted matches increases. Finally, it is shown that a reputation system which screens for honesty increases social welfare by making sellers more truthful, however, a reputation for honesty is not always highly valued and an alternative reputation system which screens for type can be more effective.

This thesis analyses producer response to technical change using agricultural aid projects on Atiu, Cook Islands, as an example. Part One is a case study of the island, its economic activities, social organisation and cultural attitudes. Part Two presents a theoretical model of grower response to new technical opportunities, looking at the implications of new risky decision over time in a particular community; it also considers the role of the community and the administration in encouraging change. Part three concludes with policy implications of designing, administering and evaluating aid projects with variable labour response.

This study analyses the economic aspects of housing tenure choice in New Zealand, 1960-80. The analysis proceeds by way of the building, refining and estimation of a model of household tenure choice, using a considerable body of micro-level data and aggregate time series. It is argued that the household faces a wealth constraint, a dual budget constraint, and minimum dwelling standard constraints, and that the household's tenure choice depends on the interaction of these constraints and its preference set. The budget constraint is a dual constraint because the true economic price of buying relative to that of renting generally differs from the 'outlay' price of buying relative to that of renting. The outlay prices of housing services are important for households with limited current income available for housing unless the household's wealth constraint is unusually loose. Considerable emphasis is placed on the modelling of the prices of housing services. A sub-model of landlord behaviour and the examination of the operation of the private rental housing market are directed at explaining the path over time of urban New Zealand rents. Sources of data are as follows. In considering prices and the various constraints on tenure choice I employ my own survey data, collected in Auckland, and time-series data from the New Zealand Department of Statistics (NZDS) and the New Zealand Valuation Department, together with crosstabulation data from various sources. I make use for the first time (for these purposes) of a body of data collected by the NZDS - their Household Sample Survey data - to estimate a cross-sectional tenure choice function. For the examination of national tenure choice trends I had to construct my own estimates of the private sector home-ownership rate. The chief conclusion of this study is that lack of wealth constrains the large majority of 'unwilling' private tenants (who are about three-quarters of all private tenants) to rent. Both interview evidence and cross-sectional econometric work support this conclusion. A second major finding is that the impact of the budget constraint on household tenure choice has varied considerably over time but in terms of economic prices, buying has been consistently (over the last two decades) cheaper than renting for the typical tenure-choosing household with a moderate marginal rate of time preference and a moderate planning period. In times of rapid dwelling appreciation the economic price of buying relative to that of renting is particularly low. In contrast, the outlay price of buying (comprising costs in the current period) has been considerably greater than the outlay price of renting, especially when nominal interest rates have been high, and this fact has undoubtedly deterred a significant a significant proportion of households from buying. Finally, the decline in the private sector home-ownership rate between 1961 and 1976 was found to be largely due to changes in the 'age:marital status:household size' structure of the population of households. These changes outweighed the net effect of economic factors which worked to raise the home-ownership rate until 1976.

Theoretical and empirical literature on inflation is extensive, and it abounds with diverse opinion. Principal works are of overseas origin; no substantial research has been published relating specifically to the New Zealand economy. This study does not attempt to develop a comprehensive theory of inflation, but has as its purpose the formulation of a simultaneous equation model to explain and predict movements in variables relevant to the inflationary process. The research has been conducted with New Zealand data and no econometric work on inflation yet published seems to have produced a model as embracing as the one advanced. This introduction has the following scope and content. First it conveys some idea of the extent of debate over what inflation is, this being done by brief references to various attempts at defining the phenomenon and to some of the different types of inflation advanced. Next, it questions more fundamentally 'what inflation is, and how, if' at all, the subject may be enlightened by further research. This leads on to derivation of an appropriate definition of inflation. Finally, an outline is given of the aspects of inflation to be investigated and the approach to be adopted.

Active labour market programmes are an important component of government labour market policy internationally and in New Zealand. The growth in unemployment, and in particular male and long term unemployment, since the mid 1980's in New Zealand have contributed to the enhanced role of active labour market programmes in government policy. In the early 1990's the New Zealand government introduced a menu of interventions including subsidy, work experience and training programmes. Concomitant with this development has been increased pressure from political, business and social groups to assess the effectiveness of this approach in lowering unemployment. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of active labour market policy utilised in New Zealand from 1989 to 1997. Whether or not these active labour market interventions were beneficial to those males who participated in them, the effect of treatment upon the treated, is the parameter estimated. The range of programmes makes it possible to analyse a number of programme evaluation issues. These include the overall question of the impact of subsidy, work experience and training programmes in general, but also other specific research questions. In particular the range of subsidy programmes makes it possible to identify that subsidies to private sector firms are more effective than those to public sector organisations. The effectiveness of start-up subsidies for the unemployed are also evaluated and found to be beneficial. The effects of participation upon selected education and ethnic groups are also estimated. Since there is no one estimation approach that works in all circumstances, both regression and matching estimators are used. In order to achieve this it is necessary to create two estimation datasets as the data requirements vary for each technique. The main findings from the research are that participation in active labour market programmes is beneficial in reducing the length of time that participants are registered as unemployed. Work experience programmes have the largest impact, followed by subsidies. The effect of training programmes is smallest. The major beneficial effect occurs in the year following participation and then reduces in subsequent years. There are also some important methodological findings, including the sensitivity of results to the time frame, to the datasets chosen, and to the estimation techniques used.

This thesis analyses three sets of issues that arise in the field of network economics. The first chapter following the introduction is concerned with modeling partial consumer participation in the context of two-way interconnection in telecommunications. Partial consumer participation is introduced into the model of competition between telecommunications networks developed by Armstrong (1998), Carter and Wright (1999) and Laffont et al (1998a). It is shown that the result that firms are indifferent over the access charge under two-part tariffs no longer holds when there is partial consumer participation. Under some additional simplifying assumptions, it is shown that firms prefer that the access charge is set equal to the marginal cost of termination. Without these additional assumptions the model is analytically complex and numerical simulation results are presented which shown that firms prefer the access charge to be less than marginal cost, while the socially optimal access charge is above cost. The next chapter considers competition between two-sided networks. Firms with two-sided networks facilitate connections or transactions between two distinct populations of consumers. This chapter analyses the behaviour of such firms where there are no intrinsic benefits to consumers other than the network effects, examples of which include employment agencies, real estate agents and videogame platforms. The modelling framework encompasses both matching service and platform business models and allows for subscription or per-transaction pricing. Three different market structures are considered: monopoly, and duopoly with and without compatibility. Comparisons of prices, profits, consumer surplus, and welfare are made between the three regimes. It is shown that one side of the market generally pays a lower price than the other, and the conditions under which one side of the market is charged a zero price are derived. It is also shown that duopoly with compatibility is socially preferable to the other regimes, while monopoly is socially preferable to duopoly without compatibility. The final chapter examines the reputation systems that are increasingly accompanying network businesses. This chapter explores the trade-off between the short-term benefits of false quality advertisements by sellers in a market with asymmetric information against the longer term costs of reputation damage. A directed search model is constructed in which submarkets are created by the advertisements and reputations of sellers. A reputation system links misleading advertisements in the present period to a lower reputation in the next period. It is shown that a reputation system always increases the prices of high quality products and directs search more accurately towards the sellers with such products. It is also shown that buyers are hurt by a reputation system if the market is thin - has few sellers – because the equilibrium increase in prices is greater than the equilibrium increase in the quality of trade. On the other hand, it is shown that submarket creation by a reputation system always increases total welfare because buyers' search is directed more accurately and the number of quality adjusted matches increases. Finally, it is shown that a reputation system which screens for honesty increases social welfare by making sellers more truthful, however, a reputation for honesty is not always highly valued and an alternative reputation system which screens for type can be more effective.

This thesis analyses producer response to technical change using agricultural aid projects on Atiu, Cook Islands, as an example. Part One is a case study of the island, its economic activities, social organisation and cultural attitudes. Part Two presents a theoretical model of grower response to new technical opportunities, looking at the implications of new risky decision over time in a particular community; it also considers the role of the community and the administration in encouraging change. Part three concludes with policy implications of designing, administering and evaluating aid projects with variable labour response.