Social accounts of the transport sector in New Zealand, 1950-1977: with special reference to estimates of capital stock

Abstract

This thesis places emphasis on the production of time series of social accounts of the New Zealand Transport Sector and component sub-sectors - Rail, Road, Shipping and Aviation. The period studied covers almost three decades from 1949/50 – 1976/77. Transport Gross Output, Net Output and Non-Factor Input in current and constant 1965/66 prices as well as labour force estimates were derived. Special attention has also been given to estimating Transport Gross Capital Formation and Transport Capital Stock. Because of a dearth of information available in capital stock estimates in New Zealand, this part of the thesis represents a major pioneering effort. Two methods have essentially been used to derive Transport Capital Stock. The first is the Valuation of Physical Inventory Approach which involves the production of a historical series of physical numbers or some common volume or weight. A base year is decided on and to this series is then applied a price obtained for the base year. The second approach is the Perpetual Inventory Method in which Capital Stock data is generated by deriving a starting stock value and then accumulating successive annual capital expenditure with annual adjustments for capital consumption. Based on data derived, following sections of the thesis examines trends in transport prices and determinants thereof as well as an analysis of New Zealand transport sector growth rates using the Solow method.