The Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) data has been volatile recently. It is survey based and is usually benchmarked to Census data. Sampling is also affected by Census results. The latest Census data suggest some big revisions ahead for many of the published HLFS indicators, including employment.
The RBNZ today exempted new home builds from high loan to value restrictions. The reason for putting the policy in place is financial stability. That is to reduce the accumulation of high-risk debt in the banking system. By this test, and this should be the reasonable test, this is bad policy. By this exemption the RBNZ […]
The 2013 Census data is a treasure trove. A striking regional picture is the unemployment rate by territorial authority.
Statistics New Zealand launched their social indicators on 26 November 2013. It is a collection of data from the General Social Survey, which supplements various ‘hard’ economic data with ‘softer’ measures of perceptions. I was part of a panel that spoke briefly at the launch. Donal at Economics New Zealand has written about it already. The question […]
Ok, so I am a geek. That should come as no surprise to anyone. One of my favourite book series is Discworld by by Terry Pratchett. The latest book, Raising Steam, has a nice description of creative destruction:
LVR restrictions have been in force for just over a month. They are beginning to bite.