The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in New Zealand house prices. A major contributor to this increase has been an insufficient supply of land and development capacity for housing, both within and outside cities, to meet increasing demand. The Government asked the Productivity Commission to look into the processes that New Zealand’s fastest-growing...

In June 2014, the Productivity Commission was asked to look at ways to improve how government agencies commission and purchase social services. The final report was released in mid-September 2015. It makes several recommendations about how to make social services more responsive, client-focused, accountable and innovative. The final inquiry report has two key messages. First...

Explores technological diffusion among New Zealand firms using a model of convergence in which a firm’s multi-factor productivity (MFP) growth depends on its ability to catch up to its industry’s productivity frontier.

Key Points Social services help New Zealanders to live healthy, safe and fulfilling lives. They provide access to health services and education opportunities, and protect and supp ort the most vulnerable. The quality of these services and access to them are crucial to the ongoing wellbeing of New Zealanders. The government funds social services with...

The purpose of this inquiry was to develop recommendations on how to improve the design of new regulatory regimes and make system-wide improvements to the operation of existing regulatory regimes in New Zealand.