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A great deal has been written on the subject of 'Farming without Subsidies' in New Zealand. This paper draws heavily on much of that work, particularly Sandry and Reynolds (1990), Meat and Wool NZ (2005), Vitalis (2005), Gould (1982), Johnson and Forbes (2000), Lattimore (1987), Rayner et al (1991), Evans et al (1996), Silverstone et al (1996), Federated Farmers (2002) and Morrison et al (2000). Dalziel and Lattimore (2004) has a comprehensive bibliography of the business, economic, sociology and political science literature on the subject. [.] The aim of this paper is to discuss why farm subsidies were raised so much at that time, why, and how, they were quickly removed after 1984 and what have been the resulting effects on the farm sector.

What drives economic growth in New Zealand? How have we been impacted by globalisation and the financial crisis? And what will shape our future productivity and competitiveness? In this book leading economists Ralph Lattimore and Shamubeel Eaqub bring together key data to provide a readable and analytical introduction to the contemporary New Zealand economy. Small and open, the New Zealand economy is frequently buffeted by changing international commodity prices and interest rates as well as shifts in domestic policy. To make sense of our dynamic economy, Lattimore and Eaqub interpret data on key economic indicators over time – GDP and interest rates, population, employment and productivity levels, trade and investment, government accounts. They focus particularly on two issues of key importance to contemporary New Zealand: globalisation and the rise of the Asian economies over the past thirty years -- and the origins and continuing effects of the 2007–08 Global Financial Crisis. The New Zealand Economy includes case studies by Professors Gary Hawke and Philip McCann. Rich with local data and case studies, The New Zealand Economy is a clear and concise assessment of the current structure and performance of New Zealand's economy from a historical and global perspective. The book is an ideal supplementary text for undergraduates and MBA students as well as a pocket primer for New Zealanders involved in business and policy..

New Zealand import protection was been reduced from amongst the highest in the developed world in the 1980's to about the OECD average in 1999. At that point, Government stopped further reductions that had been planned. That policy has left import protection on apparel goods (clothing and footwear) at high levels and restricted imports from many important trading partners, particularly in Asia. Future import protection in apparel goods may need to be revisited as New Zealand continues negotiations on free trade agreements with China and other countries. The consumer gains that could be made from further reductions in apparel tariffs and anti-dumping duties will be influenced by recent market changes in New Zealand. Markets have changed a great deal over the last few decades in response to a range of demand and supply side factors. This paper reports on consumer demand elasticities estimated over the last twenty years for apparel items purchased by New Zealand households that would be useful in evaluating further reductions in import protection. The Rotterdam model parameter estimates indicate that the demand for particular apparel items has been very price-elastic with significant cross-price elasticities. This would imply that the overall consumer gains from reductions in import protection for apparel might be less than in the past.

Twice in the last decade there have been surges in the demand for property in New Zealand - what could be described as speculative bubbles. An important part of these demands has been that for owner occupied housing. This has occurred in a generally buoyant economic environment since the early 1990's as the economy finally recovered from the reform shock of the period 1985-91. In both cases, the central bank has raised interest rates in attempts to stem this exuberance. The housing market itself has been examined in two recent papers, Grimes and Aitken (2004) and Rosborough (2005). They explore drivers within the housing market at the national and regional levels. An earlier household demand system study by Michelini (1999) excluded housing (other than housing operations) essentially because of its capital nature and the lumpy transactions involved. A notable feature of the period has been an apparent drift away from owner occupied housing towards rental accommodation. This has been characterised as an affordability issue in the face of rapidly rising house prices. However, there have also been changes in government housing policy with a move away from state provision towards rental house subsidies for qualifying people (means tested portable housing supplements). This policy change is likely to have driven rents upwards and caused some substitution away from rental accommodation. More generally, there may have been a number of expenditure switches by households occurring over the last decade, so it is interesting to explore consumer expenditure patterns generally in an attempt to uncover any changes in demand parameters and preferences that may have occurred recently. This paper addresses this last issue with particular reference to the household demand for housing using household expenditure data (HES) up to 2004. As supply of housing, even that in the fairly long run, is essentially fixed (Grimes and Aitken, 2004), housing prices and the allocation of the existing stock are determined initially by demand conditions. Good estimates of housing demand elasticities will therefore be very useful in understanding variations in housing demands. Housing presents an interesting case because housing represents both a consumption good and a capital good. The purchase of houses for both own use and for rent can, accordingly, be thought of as having two income streams - an explicit or implicit rental stream and a stream of capital gains. The capital gains portion is attractive in New Zealand because, where the owner is not seen to be a property trader, it is not subject to income tax.