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Our Research

Infrastructure

Infrastructure provision is a key government role. It is one ways in which government expenditure may raise economic productivity. Assessing the impacts of infrastructure investments is central to understanding prospective economic and social development within settlements or regions and across New Zealand more broadly.

Our research focus

Motu’s current and recent infrastructure research focus includes:

The impacts of infrastructure on urban and regional development.
Assembling a long-term data series on NZ cities and towns.
Analysing methods for integrating infrastructure planning within and across regions.
Analysing the impacts of fibre broadband on firms' productivity.

Publications

Measuring commute patterns over time: Using administrative data to identify where employees live and work

Authors: Dave Maré | Richard Fabling

Working Paper

We have developed a new database of commuting flows in New Zealand, for use in the Statistics NZ datalab. It draws on a range of confidentialised datasets within the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) and Longitudinal…

Ultra-fast broadband, skill complementarities, gender and wages

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Richard Fabling

Working Paper

Ultra-fast broadband
a flowering of earnings
for some but not all.

We examine whether ultra-fast broadband (UFB) has selective complementarities with certain types of labour. Using longitudinal data on New Zealand firms’ internet connection type…

Effects of (ultra-fast) fibre broadband on student achievement

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Wilbur Townsend

Article

We estimate the impact of ultra-fast broadband on schools’ academic performance. We do so through a difference-in-difference study of a new government-promoted fibre broadband network designed to deliver ultra-fast broadband to schools and hospitals. We…

Is internet on the right track? The digital divide, path dependence, and the rollout of New Zealand’s ultra-fast broadband

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Eyal Apatov | Nathan Chappell

Working Paper

New fibre broadband:
Addressing deprivation
In urban areas.

Using data on internet access for New Zealand’s 46,637 meshblocks, we examine issues of path dependence and the digital divide. We test whether areas that…

Incorporating and assessing travel demand uncertainty in transport investment appraisals

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Paul Roberts | Anthony Byett | James Laird

Other

Uncertainty is pervasive when it comes to transport investment decisions. While it is natural to improve the traffic forecasts that inform such decisions, it is also important to acknowledge fundamental uncertainty exists about the future.…

Spatial Impacts of Endogenously Determined Infrastructure Investment

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Jacques Poot | Philip McCann | William Cochrane

Other

In this book chapter, we address three questions: Do infrastructure investments impact on local incomes, population and land values? Do these effects spill over into neighbouring regions? Is infrastructure investment a response to local developments?

We…

Welfare costs of coordinated infrastructure investments: the case of competing transport modes

Author: Arthur Grimes

Article

Infrastructure investments such as in rail and road networks are often undertaken by different parties that have differing degrees of vertical integration into downstream rolling stock (i.e. train and truck) investments. We analyse the impacts…

Impacts of Higher Education Institutions on Local Population and Employment Growth

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Eyal Apatov

Article

We examine the relationship between higher education institutions (HEIs) and local population and employment growth, using a sample of fifty-seven New Zealand territorial local authorities between 1986 and 2013. We account for HEI endogeneity by…

The Effect of Fibre Broadband on Student Learning

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Wilbur Townsend

Working Paper

Students with access
to fibre broadband learn more,
thousands benefit.

We estimate the impact of ultra-fast broadband on schools’ academic performance using a difference-in-difference study of a new fibre broadband network. We show…

Higher education institutions and regional growth: The case of New Zealand

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Eyal Apatov

Working Paper

Universities
bring extra population
and more employment.

We examine the relationship between the presence of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and local growth, using a sample of 57 New Zealand Territorial Local Authorities…

Regional Authorities Finance Data

Dataset

This data provides annual information for each region in NZ between 1991 and 2008. Regional council revenues are fragmented by rates, whereas expenditures are fragmented by services and other trading/consolidated activities. Operating budgets for refuse,…

Infrastructure and Regional Growth

Author: Arthur Grimes

Article

This is a chapter in a physical book.

Making Multiple Places into a Place: Infrastructure Governance and Planning in Auckland

Author: Arthur Grimes

Article

This article was published by The Smith Institute.

Planning New Infrastructure: Some Issues

Author: Arthur Grimes

Article

Infrastructure investments are mostly long-lived, service multiple (current and future) users, and interact with other public infrastructures and private investments. Empirical examples cited in the companion article in this issue, Infrastucture: New Findings for New…

Is Fibre Good for Us?

Author: Arthur Grimes

Article

Fast internet access is widely considered to be a factor in enhancing productivity. As faster broadband technologies become available, calls are made to upgrade existing telecommunications networks so that local firms and households won't be…

Infrastructure: New Findings for New Zealand

Author: Arthur Grimes

Article

Infrastructure is a crucial input into economic production, and provision of infrastructure is a key avenue through which government may materially raise economic productivity. Recognising the importance of infrastructure investment, the Foundation for Research, Science…

Spatial Effects of Urban Rail Upgrades

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Chris Young

Article

We examine spatial impacts of major upgrades to an existing urban passenger rail service. The upgrades, to Auckland's Western Line, were announced in 2005. Anticipated benefits of upgrades should be factored into people's location and…

Any Port in a Storm: Impacts of New Port Infrastructure on Exporter Behaviour

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Lynda Sanderson | Richard Fabling

Working Paper

This paper investigates the impact of port infrastructure on exporter behaviour, focusing on the opening of Metroport, a new inland port in Auckland. We model adoption of the new port facilities among local firms, and then…

The Effect of Transport Infrastructure on Home Production Activity: Evidence from Rural New York, 1825-1845

Author: Andrew Coleman

Working Paper

This paper examines the home production activities of newly formed and long established households in rural New York over a twenty year period after the Erie Canal was built.

It shows that newly established households had…

Infrastructure’s Long-Lived Impact on Urban Development: Theory and Empirics

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Anna Robinson | Eyal Apatov | Larissa Lutchman

Working Paper

We analyse impacts that infrastructure provision and other factors have on long run urban growth. Reflecting spatial equilibrium insights, growing cities have preferred attributes relative to other cities. These attributes may include natural characteristics, social…

The Spatial Impact of Local Infrastructural Investment in New Zealand

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Jacques Poot | Philip McCann | William Cochrane

Working Paper

In this paper we estimate the impact of local authority infrastructure spending in New Zealand using spatial econometric modelling, with the infrastructure spending itself endogenously determined.

Utilizing data from the New Zealand Census and Local Authorities…

The Economics of Infrastructure Investment: Beyond Simple Cost Benefit Analysis

Author: Arthur Grimes

Working Paper

This non-technical "think-piece' examines aspects of infrastructure project evaluation, concentrating on circumstances that may render a standard cost benefit analysis (CBA) inappropriate.

It is designed to make infrastructure investors and planners think deeply about their assumptions…

Anticipatory Effects of Rail Upgrades: Auckland’s Western Line

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Chris Young

Working Paper

We examine effects of urban passenger rail upgrades to Auckland's Western Line. The upgrades, and associated urban renewal projects, were announced in mid-2005. International experience indicates that the anticipated benefits of the upgrades should be…

Spatial Effects of ‘Mill’ Closures: Does Distance Matter?

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Chris Young

Working Paper

When small towns experience a major infrastructure shock, such as a "mill' closure, the effects can be devastating.

We analyse the effects of two major freezing works closures in New Zealand, in Patea (1982) and Whakatu…

Motu FRST Infrastructure Programme: Key Findings & New Questions

Author: Arthur Grimes

Presentation

Arthur Grimes presented the summarised findings of four years of Motu-led research evaluating infrastructure investments in New Zealand at an Infrastructure Workshop jointly presented by IPS and Motu on Tuesday 13 July 2010.

This FRST-funded research…

The Role of Infrastructure in Developing New Zealand's Economy

Author: Arthur Grimes

Presentation

The concept of an 'infrastructure deficit' is commonly referred to within New Zealand. A claim that there is a deficit implies that the optimal stock is greater than the existing stock (at least for certain…

Transformative Transport: Transport and Economic Transformation

Author: Arthur Grimes

Presentation

In this paper, we review recent international evidence on the forces of agglomeration and the links between agglomeration and transport investments. We then focus on New Zealand evidence. In particular, we consider whether productivity benefits…

Is Infrastructure Productive? Evaluating the Effects of Specific Infrastructure Projects on Firm Productivity Within New Zealand

Author: Jason Timmins

Working Paper

The paper investigates the feasibility of using a variant of the spatial equilibrium model to estimate the productivity effects of a specific infrastructure project in New Zealand.

Policy makers are interested in the marginal effects of…

The Role of Infrastructure in Developing New Zealand’s Economy

Author: Arthur Grimes

Note

Motu Research is conducting a four-year project examining the net benefits provided by New Zealand’s infrastructure. This Motu Note gives a non-technical introduction to the issues of infrastructure investment in New Zealand and presents an…

Transport infrastructure, lock-out, and urban form: Highway development in Auckland and the United States

Note

Evidence from the 1950s US highway building programme suggests that better roading infrastructure within a city makes it more attractive to migrants, but that most new development takes place in sprawling suburbs. These suburbs are…

Strategic Transport Choices

Author: Arthur Grimes

Note

Why does transport deserve its own conference, its own government department and delivery agencies, its own trade journals, academic journals and books? The reason is not because transport is valued particularly in its own right.…