Do economists think we should build more infrastructure?
Should we spend more money on infrastructure?
That’s a good question. Recent posts on Transportblog have looked at the case for a greater focus on providing better transport choices in Auckland, the need to start discussing rapid transit provision in smaller but growing cities, and the need for better connections between New Zealand’s cities and towns.…
Do motorways inevitably generate economic growth?
There were a number of odd things in the report released several weeks ago by the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID), a lobby group. Matt has already reviewed the report in detail. Perhaps the oddest part of it was this sentence:
Motorway capacity is essential because motorways generate economic activity.…
Better cities can answer New Zealand’s export woes
In recent years the New Zealand economy has benefitted from tailwinds – strong Chinese demand for milk powder and raw logs, net inward migration driving up house prices, and, sadly, the need to rebuild our second-largest city. But should we be so happy to rest on our good fortunes, or are there long-term risks we need to manage?…
Better cities mean a wealthier New Zealand
Last week I took a look at whether government policy to support regional economies could divert growth away from Auckland. Based on the historical evidence, the answer seems to be no – people want to live in Auckland and start businesses here, and it’s senseless to try and stop that.…
More migrants! Sweet.
Several recent reports and articles have discussed trends in migration and its impacts on New Zealand.
In terms of trends, net migration is at a 10-year high. The recent surge in net migration trends is shown below. The simple reason advanced for the positive net migration trend is that our economy is doing relatively well compared to most of the countries with whom we compete for skilled labour.…
Does building roads harm the economy?
Most proposals to build new roads or widen existing ones seem to boil down to an ultimate belief that it will “help the economy”. Whether it’s by improving freight reliability or getting people to their jobs faster or helping business travel or whatever, there seems to be a fundamental belief among many that quite a strong relationship must exist between building more roads and improving the economy.…
Economic benefits of sustainable streets
Courtesy of Atlantic Cities, it’s explained how New York City’s Department of Transportation has done some pretty detailed analysis of the economic impacts of many of the changes they’ve been making to the layout of streets over the past few years.…
How Cities Foster Innovation
We talk quite a bit on this blog about the importance and value of agglomeration, which is the additional level of productivity which comes from locating activities close to each other. Agglomeration is why Auckland growing will be good for all New Zealanders, and at a smaller scale why central parts of Auckland growing will be good for all of Auckland.…
Auckland’s Economic Future
Auckland feels like it’s at the cusp of something of a transition between being an ‘overgrown town’ and a ‘real city’ – with the distinction between the two manifesting itself in the difference between the Council’s vision for Auckland and central government’s vision.…
Almost the world’s most liveable city
The 2012 Mercer Quality of Living Ranking survey has Auckland as the world’s third most liveable city – retaining the same ranking as 2011. The survey is designed to assist employers in the placement of expatriate staff and how much they should receive in living allowances, so the results tend to indicate quality of living if you’re really well off, however they give a useful guide.…
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