Centre
for Law and Economics
Social Policy, Law, Finance and Management
The Centre for Research on Incomes and Social Policy (CRISP), within CLE addresses
the economics of social policy.
CRISP's research agenda is to develop econometric data bases and methods for
testing and analysing the effects of social policy using dynamic behavioural
models drawn from applied microeconomics. CRISP's activities are co-ordinated
within the Centre for Law and Economics by Dr Tim Maloney.
The CRISP Research Team
All three researchers have an extensive history in various aspects of modeling
and public policy analysis. Each bring relatively unique attributes to this
project.
John Creedy
John Creedy's background is in labour and public economics and economic theory.
Over the last 28 years he has completed numerous projects that involve economic,
demographic and financial modeling. These works incclude work while in the National
Institute of Economic and Social Research in London, in the Strategic Analysis
Unit at the New Zealand Treasury and in academic positions at universities in
England, the United States and Australia. These projects have resulted in the
publication of over 20 books, 36 chapters in books and 150 articles in economic
journals.
Tim Maloney
Tim Maloney's background is in labour economics and econometrics. Over the
last 20 years he has completed dozens of projects that involve economic, demographic
and financial modeling. These include work while in the Institute for Research
on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, in the Strategic Analysis Unit at
the New Zealand Treasury and in academic positions at universities in the United
States and New Zealand. Much of his recent work has involved econometric analyses
of recent economic reforms in New Zealand. These projects have resulted in the
publication of two books, a chapter in another book and numerous articles in
economic journals.
Publications
Nine works have been published resulting from research under CRISP. These are:
Income Distribution in NZ
George Barker
New Light is increasingly being cast on the analysis of income distribution.
New ways of thinking about the problem have been stimulated by the discovery
of some new facts and methods of analysis. It is argued in this volume that
these new facts and arguments need to be considered when people discuss whether
it is true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer,
and more generally the role of policy in affecting social outcomes. Fundamentally,
the main characteristic of this new approach is that it adopts a more dynamic
perspective on the nature of the problem of income distribution and the role
of social policy generally.
As the introduction to this series, this book aims to lay some groundwork and
present some preliminary results. First, it briefly reviews the main elements
that have contributed to the development of the new and more dynamic view on
income distribution and social policy. Second, it examines available evidence
on income dynamics and income distribution in New Zealand since the 1950s.
1996 • A5, paperback, 60 pp • 0-908935-09-9 • $29.50
Statistics and Dynamics of Income Distribution
in New Zealand
John Creedy
John Creedy is the Truby Williams Professor of Economics at the University
of Melbourne. He has published widely in the area of income distribution and
public economics.
This volume expores a number of aspects of income distribution. It pays particular
attention to the need to consider incomes measured over a longer period than
simply one year. In examining longer period income measures, it is necessary
to examine the extent to which individuals experience income changes relative
to others within the income distribution. A preliminary analysis has been made
possible by a new data set which provides a unique record of income mobility
for men and women in New Zealand.
The first part of this book provides an introduction to inequality measurement.
The second part begins with a survey of measurement issues in the context of
cross-sectional studies and goes on to examine the effect of indirect tax changes
and inflation in New Zealand, allowing for the effects of price changes on consumers'
behaviour. The third part of the book surveys some issues in the collection
and use of longitudinal data. It then explores the relationships between the
cross-sectional and lifetime income distribution, and provides a statistical
analysis of relative income mobility. Finally, simulation methods are used to
examine the effects of different tax structures on alternative income distributions.
1997 • A5, paperback, 170 pp • 0-908935-17-X, • $35.50
The Employment Contracts Act: The Judicial
Influence 1991 - 1997
Jack Hodder and Jane Foster
Jack Hodder is a litigation partner in the Wellington office of the national
law firm, Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young. He has wide experience in civil and
commercial litigation and, in the employment area, has acted for both employers
and employees.
Jane Foster is an Assistant Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Office's Bill of
Rights team in Wellington. At the time of contributing to this publication,
she was a litigation solicitor with Chapman Tripp Sheffield Young, Wellington.
This book examines the influences of the Court of Appeal and the Employment,
Court on the development and application of the Employment Contracts Act 1991
from 1991 to 1997. That influence was significant, establishing a complex layer
of secondary rules around the broadly framed primary rules enacted by Parliament.
1998 • A5, paperback, 107 pp • 0-908935-32-3 • $35.50
Five Years After: The New Zealand Labour Market
in the Employment Contracts Act
Tim Maloney
The Employment Contracts Act 1991 substantively altered the very nature of
the industrial relations system in New Zealand. The ECA continued a trend of
earlier industrial relations reforms by further decentralising and restricting
the state's role in the collective bargaining process. However, this legislation
represented a dramatic leap beyond these previous reforms. The ECA abolished
New Zealand's centralised wage-setting system. It made compulsory unionism illegal.
It made union representation 'contestable' in the labour market by allowing
individuals to choose who will represent their interests in contract negotiations,
and by stating that whether employment contracts are ultimately collective or
individual agreements is itself subject to negotiations between parties.
Enough time has now elapsed to begin to estimate the effects of this industrial
relations reform in the New Zealand labour market. Data from a number of sources
are used in this study to isolate the effects of the ECA on average hourly earnings,
aggregate employment and hours of work, and average labour productivity in this
country. The principle estimation technique is multiple regression analysis.
Industry-level data are used from the first quarter of 1986 through the second
quarter of 1996.
Clear empirical evidence is found in this work to support the hypothesis that
the ECA was primarily responsible for the substantial decline in the proportion
of non-agricultural workers who were trade union members after 1991. This is
an important consideration because the analysis suggests that this decrease
in unionisation was solely responsible for any effects of this legislation in
the labour market. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that the ECA reduced
hourly earning in this country. Yet there is compelling evidence that this act
caused an increase in both aggregate employment and hours of work. Between 8.4%
and 18.2% of the overall increase in employment between the first two quarters
of 1991 and the first two quarters of 1996 can be attributed to this industrial
relations reform. Average annual labour productivity growth declined from 1.47%
in the pre-ECA period to 0.25% in the post-ECA period. This legislation is capable
of accounting for between one-quarter and one-half of this slowdown in the productivity
growth.
1998 • A5, paperback, 128 pp • 0-908935-29-3 • $35.50
Benefit Reform and Labour Market Behaviour in
New Zealand
Tim Maloney
Tim Maloney is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Auckland,
and a researcher at the Social Policy and Government Services unit at the New
Zealand Treasury. He hold a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
New Zealand has initiated sweeping reforms to its social welfare programmes
by cutting benefits and tightening eligibility criteria. One of the objectives
was to provide incentives for people to enter or re-enter the labour force.
However, widening the income gap between being in paid work and on the benefit
does not necessarily guarantee that people will respond in this way.
Previous research has often failed to measure accurately the extent of work
disincentives, or to observe variation in programmes that would allow empirical
analysis of labour market behaviour to take place. The structure of these benefit
programmes in New Zealand, and the nature of the reforms, offer a unique opportunity
for these behavioural responses to be identified.
This study finds compelling evidence that the benefit reforms increased both
labour force participation and employment. Although these positive responses
occurred among most demographic groups, they were notably larger for women and
those aged 55-64.
1997 • A5, paperback, 70 pp • 0-908935-16-1 • $29.50
Investing in Minds: the Economics of Higher
Education in New Zealand
Sholeh A Maani
Sholeh Maani is Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Auckland,
and a research adviser to various government departments in New Zealand and
overseas.
Because of major changes in the structure of the New Zealand economy, there
have been significant increases in participation in higher education. An important
implication of this increase has been the need to reassess the system of funding
tertiary education. The introduction of student fees in 1990, and the targeting
of allowances since 1992, figure prominently amongst changes which have been
the subject of significant controversy and public debate in New Zealand.
This book is based on New Zealand and OECD research. The analyses, which span
the period from 1980-1995, examine the links between higher education and income
distribution, and access to higher education. The theoretical and empirical
frameworks utilised incorporate the lifetime nature of education decisions,
and use individual level data across census years in various analyses. the analysis
includes:
- Recent trends in participation rates, student fees, allowance and loans.
- The link between higher education and income levels over a decade.
- The effect of various fee, allowance and loan scenarios on the private and
public attractiveness of tertiary education.
- The linkages between family income and socio-economic background, academic
performance and the demand for higher education.
1997 • A5, paperback 209 pp • 0-908935-11-0 • $35.50
Ethnicity and Schooling in New Zealand:
an Economic Analysis Using a Survey of Twins
John Gibson
John Gibson is a Senior Lecture in Economics at the University of Waikato,
and a consultant to the Population and Human Resources Division of the World
Bank. He holds a PhD from Stanford University.
Do people from all ethnic groups get the same rate of payoff to their investments
in schooling? This question is pertinent to New Zealand because of the below
average schooling level of the Maori and Pacific Islands population. One economic
explanation for this gap in schooling levels is that Maori and Pacific Islands
families find it hard to fund education. This forces their children to leave
school at a time when additional learning still gives a high rate of payoff.
Another explanation is that discrimination and other forms of disadvantage lead
people from these ethnic groups to expect lower rates of payoff on their schooling
investments. This causes them to choose a lower level of schooling.
Previous international research estimating the rate of payoff to schooling
investments has shown that omitted effects like unovserved ability, and measurement
errors in self-reports of schooling, can seriously bias econometric results.
Studies that use data on identical twins can overcome both these problems. The
current study follows this line of research. It finds that, on average, each
extra year of educationi gives an economic rate of return of 5%. The maori and
Pacific Island members of the sample in this study had lower average incomes
and levels of schooling, but significantly higher rates of return on their schooling
investments, a finding which is consistent with the idea that difficulties in
funding education contribute to the gap in schooling levels between ethnic groups.
1998 • A5, paperback, 63 pp • 0-908935-25-0 • $23.50
Cycles of Disadvantage?
Scott Bogges & Mary Corcoran, with Stephen P Jenkins
Paper one. 'Cycles of Disadvantage' by Scott Boggess and Mary Corcoran
This work reviews US evidence on cycles of disadvantage, or the question
of how and to what extent economic and other background disadvantages are passed
on to children by their parents. The review shows that snapshots of poverty
rates mask the degree to which there is movement in and out of poverty. There
is mobility in and out of poverty during childhood years. Moreover , childhood
poverty does not necessarily lead to adult poverty. The factors that are associated
with intergenerational poverty are reviewed, and the routes or mechanisms by
which these factors, including poverty, operate are covered. Economic disadvantages
are shown to play a significant role in determining life cycle incomes; however,
other factors also play a role. In particular, the research examines the influence
of family structure, neighbourhood effects, transmission of welfare dependence
and social isolation.
Scott Boggess is an Assistant Professor of Demography at Georgetown University.
He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan in 1994. His
research focuses on the causes and consequences of sexual and delinquent behaviour
among US adolescents.
Mary Corcoran is Professor of Political Science, Public Policy, Social Work
and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan. She received her PhD from
MIT. She has written extensively on intergenerational poverty, women and work,
and welfare policy. She is currently working on a three-wave study that follows
women as they move from welfare to work.
Paper Two. 'The Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage: A UK Perspective'
by Stephen P Jenkins
Stephen P Jenkins' Paper comments on the Boggess and Corcoran research and
reviews the extent to which the findings for the USA about the role of poverty,
the family and other background influences in the determination of economic
disadvantage are applicable to other countries. In particular, he reviews UK
research and concludes with some brief conjectural comments about the applicability
of the results to New Zealand.
Stephen P Jenkins is Professor of Applied Economics at the Institute of Social
and Economic Research, University of Essex, and previously worked at several
universities in the UK and in New Zealand. His current research focuses on income
distribution, poverty dynamics and the labour market.
1999 • A5, paperback, 187 pp • 0-908935-38-2 • $35.50
Cultural Capital and Policy
George Barker
This monograph addresses the question "Is there something called 'Cultural
Capital' worth talking about and should the government be involved in encouraging
its production?"
Dr George Barker tackles those questions in an essay commissioned by the New
Zealand Film Commission.
His answers are "yes" and "maybe". As with other forms
of capital, most is produced by individuals in their interactions with one another.
Dr Barker sets out the factors which should be examined by a government concerned
with social and cultural issues and which should determine whether the government
should set about stimulating the production of cultural capital.
This work sets our timely guidelines for what is likely to be a lively public
debate in New Zealand over the next few years.
$29.50
For orders please contact: cle.law@anu.edu.au
All prices are in $NZ
If ordering from oversease, please add $10 p&p for up to 3 books,
$20 p&p for 4 or more books.
.
Centre for Law & Economics
The Australian National University,
ACT 0200
Tel: +61 2 6125 3396 Fax: +61
2 6125 0103
