Abstract
This paper reports new aggregate and industry productivity series for the New Zealand economy for the period 1988 to 2002. Comparison between Australia and New Zealand shows that market sector multifactor productivity growth has been similar in both countries over the full sample period. Since 1994 average labour productivity growth has been higher in Australia, which reflects the relatively lower rate of physical capital accumulation in New Zealand after 1993. On the other hand, New Zealand's capital productivity growth has been higher than Australia's capital productivity growth since 1994, reflecting the relatively higher growth in hours worked in New Zealand.
Notes
Melleny Black: The Treasury, PO Box 3724, Wellington, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]. Melody Guy: The Treasury, PO Box 3724, Wellington, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]. Nathan McLellan: The Treasury, PO Box 3724, Wellington, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the New Zealand Treasury. The authors would like to thank an anonymous referee, Nargis Bharucha, Mark Blackmore, Bob Buckle, Ken Carlaw, Iris Claus, John Creedy, Paul Dalziel, Kevin Fox, John Janssen, Struan Little, Denis Lawrence, Peter Mawson, Grant Scobie, Kam Szeto and Bruce White and participants at seminars held at Statistics New Zealand, the New Zealand Treasury and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. We would also like to thank Ken Fletcher, John Morris and Nick Treadgold from Statistics New Zealand for invaluable discussions and the provision of data.