The secrecy of mega-projects
How is it that mega-projects costing billions get such little public involvement and scrutiny? That’s a question that Mayor Wayne Brown effectively hits on in an interview a few days ago with the Herald where he spoke on plans for an additional harbour crossing.…
23 Comments Great benefits, what about the costs?
Big infrastructure projects are great if you only count the benefits and none of the costs. That seems to be the position of infrastructure lobby group Infrastructure NZ, based on a report they released last week about the big motorway projects built in Wellington over the last decade.…
Zoning reform: Costs, benefits, and distributional impacts (1 of n)
This is the first part in an open-ended series on the economics and politics of zoning reform. The Unitary Plan decision means that Auckland’s urban planning framework is set for the short to medium term – albeit with inevitable appeals and changes.…
Building a better city: Policies and perspectives (part 2 of 2)
This is the second and final post discussing some broad ideas for building a better city. The first post discussed the dynamic nature of cities and argued that a focus on appropriate pricing and incentive mechanisms was important to managing urban ills without stifling beneficial change.…
Costs, benefits, and East-West Connections
How transport projects are evaluated has always been of interest to me. I believe that although the standard cost benefit analysis approach that lies behind the NZTA economic evaluation manual has its flaws, the resulting BCR is still an important factor in determining whether a project, or a particular project option, should proceed.…
Optimal heritage zoning: an empirical perspective
Back in July, I went down to Wellington for this year’s New Zealand Association of Economists conference. I really enjoy NZAE – people attend because they’re genuinely excited about sharing their ideas and learning from other people. (Stu Donovan and John Polkinghorne were also there.)…
The case against publicly owned golf courses, part 2
Last week I started taking a look at publicly-owned golf courses. I argued that they are different from public parks in several important respects. While public parks are freely available to all Aucklanders, golf courses are only open to paying golfers.…
Wise words from the (Australian) Productivity Commission
One of the best things done recently by governments on both sides of the Tasman has been the establishment of Productivity Commissions tasked with investigating the economic efficiency (or lack thereof) of various policy areas. The NZ Productivity Commission, which only started up in 2011, has been diligently building an evidence base on issues as diverse as international freight, service sector productivity, and land use policies.…
Should we relocate the Ports of Auckland?
Disclaimer: in professional life I have done some work on ports, including co-authoring the 2012 PwC report on future scenarios for Upper North Island ports. This post doesn’t reflect the views of my present or past employers or clients. It’s just a quick thought experiment, based on some data and a few assumptions.…
MoT’s review of capital spending on roads, part 3
This is the second post in a series on the Ministry of Transport’s working paper on New Zealand’s capital spending on roads, which was prepared as an input to the 2015/16 Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport Funding. It was released to Matt under the Official Information Act just before Christmas.…
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