Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Business and Economic Research Limited (BERL)

22 Jan 2010

I was recently invited to talk to the councillors at Dunedin City Council on how to encourage regional growth.

I believe that the answer is to increase population and investment, both private and public.

The key is to make the place more attractive to people and encourage mixed use, high density areas near city centres.

An overview of my discussion and its context was captured by the Otago Daily TImes, which you can read here. Also, you can view my powerpoint »»

Cricket and Christmas

23 Dec 2009

Yes, I am a bit of a Bah, Humbug type of person when it comes to Christmas. But, I do look forward to December every year for two reasons – cricket and sunshine. These are the two things that vie for importance in my world next to economics and numbers. Mind you they are all related. That is, you cannot have cricket without sunshine. And, to be honest, sunshine is not really of much use »»

Time to eat your fruit and veg

11 Dec 2009

Food prices fell for the fourth month in a row in November 2009 by 0.3 percent, led by a 2.0% fall in the price of fruit and vegetables. On the year, food prices have increased by only 0.9%, which is the lowest annual rise since 2005. The key food group enabling this is fruit and vegetables, where prices have fallen by 7.6% on the year. As shown in the graph the fall in prices has been »»

Seasons greetings from BERL

09 Dec 2009

2009 has been a good year for BERL. We’ve continued to grow in terms of staff, new business and new services. It has been hard work, but very satisfying. While we are aware of our own efforts we are also cognizant of the tremendous importance of all of the clients, suppliers, friends and associates that have supported us this year. It’s been a pleasure to work with you, and we want »»

The Value of Pasture to the New Zealand Economy

27 Nov 2009

Client: Pasture Renewal Charitable Trust Date: November 2009 Author(s): Kel Sanderson, Michael Webster This project was commissioned to determine the size of pasture-based farming in New Zealand and the impact that increasing pasture renewal could potentially have on the national economy. The report found that the farm gate value of pasture-based products to the New Zealand »»

Monetary policy change gaining momentum?

19 Nov 2009

BERL has been involved in the debate around the role of monetary policy since the RB Bill in 1989. We have argued strongly that the scope of the RB on inflation is too narrow. There was a select committee inquiry into monetary policy in 2007, to which BERL put in a submission. We then put in a subsequent submission which has been quoted by Phil Goff in an article that suggests Labour »»

Lower dairy prices mean Producers Prices continue easing in September 2009

23 Nov 2009

On the September 2009 quarter, the producers’ price Index (PPI) outputs index fell 1.4 percent, while the PPI inputs index fell 1.1 percent. On the September 2009 year, output prices have fallen by 2.1 percent, while input prices have fallen 5.8 percent. This easing in producers’ prices began a year ago, after two and a half years of rapid growth. The fall in output prices have »»

Capital Goods Price Index falls in the September 2009 quarter

19 Nov 2009

The capital goods price index (CGPI) fell by 0.4 percent in the September 2009 quarter, which took the annual change to a 2.3 percent increase. This is the second consecutive quarter of easing in annual prices, following rapid increases over 2008. It is also the first quarterly fall in prices since the March 2003 quarter. On the September 2009 quarter, four of the six asset »»

Auckland Economy Forecast November 2009

13 Nov 2009

BERL and the Institute of Public Policy at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) have combined to pull together an economic forecast for the Auckland region economy. Latest employment data released last week confirm that the much-heralded end of the recession remains little more than a technicality. This is as true for the Auckland economy as it is for its national counterpart. The net 13,000 »»

Vital Statistics
Latest News
BERL Graphs


GDP (average growth for year to Sep 09)	-2.2%
CPI (Sep 09 incr on Sep 08)	1.7%
Current account balance (year to Sep 09, % of GDP)	-3.1%
Unemployment (Sep 09)	6.5%
Employment (Sep 09 change on Sep 08)	-1.8%

14 Jan - The number of new homes authorised for construction (excluding apartments) rose 3.1% in November 2009. This follows an 11% rise in October 2009 and brings the number of housing units authorised to its highest level since May 2008. The value of residential building consents was $537m, an increase of 18% compared with November 2008.

12 Jan - New Zealand house values rose 2.8% over 2009. The average sales price also rose to $404,671, according to QV.

8 Jan - New Zealand is the 5th best place in the world to live according to International Living's Quality of Life Index.

7 Jan - The November 2009 trade balance was a deficit of $269m or 8.8% of exports. This compares with an average November deficit of 27.6% of exports for the previous five years.

December 2009 latest news
Nov 2009 News
October 2009
July 2009 News
June 2009 News

Key graphs - Exchange Rate
Key graph - Prices and Wages
Key graph - Interest Rates
Key graph - Core Crown Operating Balance
Key graph - Balance of Payments
Key graph - GDP and Employment

Academic Workforce Planning - Towards 2020