This manual introduces and provides usage details for an application we have developed called VIKAASA, as well as the library of functions underlying it. VIKAASA runs in GNU Octave or MATLAB®, using the numerical computing ...

Economic historians frequently face the challenge of estimation and inference when only a small sample of the relevant data is available. We illustrate solutions to the challenges through a case study analysis of the ...

In 2020, we all realized we should know more about the economic impacts of pandemics. Here, we summarize the contemporary research on the economic consequences of past epidemics and pandemics with a primary focus on highly ...

Many financially insolvent private pension funds have put Defined Benefit (DB) plans under a microscope over the last few decades. Despite government imposed rules to ensure minimum required funding, sponsors might choose ...

We investigate whether New Zealand’s rural land is over-valued when compared to its agricultural profitability. First, we develop a theoretical time-series framework showing that a positive profit shock in one agricultural ...

We estimate the effects of access to student loans on university students’ educational attainment and labor market returns in New Zealand. We exploit the introduction of a policy mandating a minimum pass rate of 50% for ...

We examine the question of whether the rate of business insolvencies in New Zealand is related to overall macroeconomic conditions. In particular, our interest is in whether the rate of business insolvencies changed in the ...

In a previous paper, we have shown that academic rank is largely unrelated to tutorial teaching effectiveness. In this paper, we further explore the effectiveness of the lowest-ranked instructors: students. We confirm that ...

Globally, the single-most observable, predictable, and certain impact of climate change is sea level rise. Using a case study from the Kapiti Coast District in New Zealand, we pose a simple question: Do people factor in ...

The common theme of the three papers in this thesis is the focus on the impact of data choices on empirical research in Economics. Such choices can be about the source of data; should we source the data from country A or ...