Bibliography of research using the NZIER’s quarterly survey of business opinion

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) has conducted and published a quarterly survey of business opinion continuously, and with largely unchanged questions, since June 1961. The Institute’s Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) is a business tendency survey based substantially on the Business Test of the IFO Munich. It covers the manufacturing, building, merchant and service sectors and architects. This bibliography lists and classifies some 80 research papers which used QSBO data and published between 1964 and 2011

High field magneto-transport in high mobility gated InSb/InAlSb quantum well heterostructures

We present high field magneto-transport data from a range of 30nm wide InSb/InAlSb quantum wells. The low temperature carrier mobility of the samples studied ranged from 18.4 to 39.5 m2V-1s-1 with carrier densities between 1.5x1015 and 3.28x1015 m-2. Room temperature mobilities are reported in excess of 6 m2V-1s-1. It is found that the Landau level broadening decreases with carrier density and beating patterns are observed in the magnetoresistance with non-zero node amplitudes in samples with the narrowest broadening despite the presence of a large g-factor. The beating is attributed to Rashba splitting phenomenon and Rashba coupling parameters are extracted from the difference in spin populations for a range of samples and gate biases. The influence of Landau level broadening and spin-dependent scattering rates on the observation of beating in the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations is investigated by simulations of the magnetoconductance. Data with non-zero beat node amplitudes are accompanied by asymmetric peaks in the Fourier transform, which are successfully reproduced by introducing a spin-dependent broadening in the simulations. It is found that the low-energy (majority) spin up state suffers more scattering than the high-energy (minority) spin down state and that the absence of beating patterns in the majority of (lower density) samples can be attributed to the same effect when the magnitude of the level broadening is large

Understanding systems thinking:an agenda for applied research in industry

Why systems thinking is valuable is relatively easy to explain.  However, in the authors’ work as university educators, teaching a student processes of enquiry that are themselves systemic is a difficult undertaking.  The capacity to view the world in systemic ways seems an innate characteristic that some individuals possess.  Might it be the case that being a systems thinker is dependent on holding a particular worldview?  Systems theorists have evolved tools and methodologies to help people do systems thinking.  Is being a user of systems methods the same as being a systems thinker? Are certain cognitive competencies, styles, or preferences required for people to make effective use of such tools and methodologies

Toward a Model of Firm Productivity Dynamics

A common finding from international research on firm productivity dynamics is that withinfirm productivity dynamics tend to dominate the effects of firm entry and exit on aggregate productivity. The aim of this paper is to explore the suitability of Statistics New Zealand’s Business Demography (BD) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) data as a basis for modelling within-firm productivity dynamics. The paper first analyses and describes the cross-sectional and time-series properties of sales, purchases and a value-added measure of labour productivity. Cross-sectional results reveal a great deal of heterogeneity in average sales, purchases and labour productivity both across and within industries and cohorts. Univariate time-series properties of these variables are remarkably similar and sales and purchases are highly correlated contemporaneously. Transition probabilities are also calculated for movement of firms between quartiles of the labour productivity distribution over varying lengths of time. In order to understand the processes driving the data, a simple statistical model for sales, purchases and value-added per unit of employment is developed to calibrate to the stylised empirical facts. The model does a remarkably good job at mimicking the properties of the BD and GST data.Firm Productivity; Labour Productivity; Firm Dynamics; New Zealand GST Data; New Zealand Business Demography; Firm Value-added.

Automated Negotiation for Provisioning Virtual Private Networks Using FIPA-Compliant Agents

This paper describes the design and implementation of negotiating agents for the task of provisioning virtual private networks. The agents and their interactions comply with the FIPA specification and they are implemented using the FIPA-OS agent framework. Particular attention is focused on the design and implementation of the negotiation algorithms

Control of nonenzymatic browning in intermediate-moisture foods

Series of compounds called humectants were found to decrease rate of browning when added to intermediate-moisture foods. Twenty percent level of humectant can increase shelf life of foods by factor of 5 or 6

The impact of monetary policy on New Zealand business cycles and inflation variability

This paper uses the open economy structural VAR model developed in Buckle, Kim, Kirkham, McLellan and Sharma (2002) to evaluate the impact of monetary policy on New Zealand business cycles and inflation variability and the output/ inflation variance trade-off. The model includes a forward- looking Taylor Rule to identify monetary policy and the impact of monetary policy is evaluated by deriving a monetary policy index using a procedure suggested by Dungey and Pagan (2000). Monetary policy has generally been counter-cyclical, thereby reducing business cycles and inflation variability. Exceptions are in 1993 when monetary policy accentuated the business cycle upswing and in 1998 when monetary policy accentuated the recession, although its impact in 1998 was small relative to the impact of adverse climatic conditions. During the initial years of inflation targeting monetary policy tended to simultaneously reduce inflation and output variability. From 1996 to 2001 monetary policy was less effective in reducing inflation and output variability. This latter period included a brief experiment with a Monetary Conditions Index, the Asian crisis and a large adverse domestic climate shock.Monetary policy; inflation targeting, business cycles; open economy; structural VAR models; inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, climate; international linkages

A Structural VAR Approach to Estimating Budget Balance Targets

The Fiscal Responsibility Act 1994 states that, as a principle of responsible fiscal management, a New Zealand government should ensure total Crown debt is at a prudent level by ensuring total operating expenses do not exceed total operating revenues. In this paper a structural VAR model is estimated to evaluate the impact on the government's cash operating surplus (or budget balance) of four independent disturbances: supply, fiscal, real private demand, and nominal disturbances. Based on the distribution of these disturbances, stochastic simulations are undertaken to derive the level of the ex ante cash budget balance needed to achieve an actual cash budget balance, at a given level of probability, at some future time horizon.Budget target; Fiscal policy; Fiscal Responsibility Act; Structural VAR; Stochastic Simulation

Calm after the Storm?: Supply-side contributions to New Zealand’s GDP volatility decline

The variance of New Zealand’s real GDP has declined since the mid-1980s. To investigate why, this paper decomposes the variance of chain-weighted estimates of production-based real GDP growth into sector shares, sector growth rate variances and co-variances. The principal explanation for the decline in GDP volatility is a fall in the sum of sector variances driven by a decline in the Services and Manufacturing sector production growth variances. Sector co-variances have had a dominant influence on the profile of GDP volatility and this influence has not diminished. Despite marked changes in sector shares, notably increases in Services and Primary sector shares and a decrease in the share of Manufacturing, this has not been a significant factor influencing the decline in GDP volatility. We postulate that policy interventions such as “Think Big”, regulatory interventions during the early 1980s, and the introduction of GST are key explanations for the higher volatility until the mid 1980s. Cessation of these interventions, deregulation and possibly changes in inventory management methods are important reasons why GDP volatility has fallen since then.Volatility, growth, production sector shares, manufacturing, services, primary, construction.