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Auckland issues

An agglomeration is a continuous urban settlement. Motu’s agglomeration research focuses on New Zealand's largest city - Auckland.

On the whole people and firms have a choice about where they are located. Being in a city costs more but:

People are willing to move there because they get paid more and/or enjoy ‘amenities’ that cities have to offer.
Firms move there despite the higher land and labour costs, because they are more productive in cities.
Policy-makers affect location choices through their investments in infrastructure and amenities.

Our research focus

Motu’s current and recent agglomeration research focus includes:

How large are regional differences in productivity, innovation, wages - and why? (This research has a particular focus on Auckland.)

Publications

Dispelling myths: Reviewing the evidence on zoning reforms in Auckland

Authors: Stuart Donovan | Matthew Maltman

Working Paper

In 2016, Auckland began to tackle its housing crisis by adopting zoning reforms that allowed for more housing on most of its urban land. The results? Housing supply increased, rents decreased, and tens of thousands…

Spatial Determinants of Land Prices: Does Auckland’s Metropolitan Urban Limit Have an Effect?

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Yun Liang

Article

Land prices within monocentric cities typically decline from the centre to the urban periphery. More complex patterns are observed in polycentric and coastal cities; discrete jumps in value can occur across zoning boundaries. Auckland (New Zealand) is a…

Agglomeration Elasticities and Firm Heterogeneity

Authors: Dave Maré | Daniel J Graham

Article

This paper examines three key issues encountered when estimating the relationship between agglomeration and multi factor productivity ("agglomeration elasticities"):

the sorting of heterogeneous firms,
the convexity of agglomeration effects, and
the challenges of identifying the impact of persistent…

Residential Sorting across Auckland Neighbourhoods

Authors: Dave Maré | Ruth Cameron (nee Pinkerton) | Andrew Coleman | Jacques Poot

Article

This paper addresses the extent to which people in Auckland exhibit residential location patterns that differ between groups, i.e. the extent to which they are spatially sorted.

To measure patterns of residential location, the paper uses…

Regional Economic Performance in New Zealand: How Does Auckland Compare?

Authors: Steven Stillman | Geoff Lewis

Article

In this study we investigate Auckland's economic performance relative to other large cities in New Zealand, to medium-sized urban centres and to small towns and rural areas.

Measures of regional economic performance are not well developed…

Bridge to Somewhere: Valuing Auckland’s Northern Motorway Extensions

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Yun Liang

Article

We estimate net benefits arising from extensions to Auckland's Northern Motorway since 1991. Population, employment and land values rose substantially near the new exits and to the north of the motorway extension, relative to developments…

Spatial Determinants of Land Prices: Does Auckland’s Metropolitan Urban Limit Have an Effect?

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Yun Liang

Article

Transport Infrastructure, Lock-out and Urban Form Highway Development

Author: Andrew Coleman

Article

When travelling the world, it is impossible not to be struck by the different urban forms of the world's great cities. Cities differ in size, age, shape and height. They have different housing styles and…

Agglomeration elasticities and firm heterogeneity

Authors: Dave Maré | Daniel J Graham

Working Paper

This paper was produced as SERC Discussion Paper 43 for the London School of Economics, London.

This paper estimates the relationship between agglomeration and multi factor productivity at the one digit industry level and by region…

Housing Supply in the Auckland Region 2000-2005

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Andrew Aitken | Ian Mitchell | Vicky Smith

Working Paper

Prepared for the Centre for Housing Research Aotearoa New Zealand and the Department of Building and Housing and finally the Housing New Zealand Corporation.

We examine constraints to expansion of Auckland's housing supply. Since 2000, increases in demand for housing…

Auckland’s Knowledge Economy: Australasian and European Comparisons

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Philip McCann | Jason Le Vaillant

Working Paper

Produced for the Ministry of Economic Development as MED Occasional Paper 11/02

This paper examines one key theme of modern spatial economics relating to city development: Do the major cities within and across countries increasingly attract a disproportionate…

Patterns of Population Location in Auckland

Authors: Dave Maré | Ruth Cameron (nee Pinkerton) | Andrew Coleman

Working Paper

This paper uses spatial statistical techniques to examine the economic determinants of residential location patterns in Auckland in 2006. The primary empirical focus of this paper is descriptive. We seek to establish the extent to…

Patterns of Business Location in Auckland

Authors: Dave Maré | Andrew Coleman

Working Paper

We investigate the spatial determinants of industrial location and productivity variation within the Auckland Urban Area. For over 300 local areas, we consider the influence on location choice and productivity of proximity to selected infrastructure,…

Estimating the Determinants of Population Location in Auckland

Authors: Dave Maré | Andrew Coleman

Working Paper

This paper analyses the location choices of new entrants to Auckland between 1996 and 2006, to identify a systematic relationship between residential location choices and features of local areas such as population density, the population…

Agglomeration Elasticities in New Zealand

Authors: Dave Maré | Daniel J Graham

Working Paper

This paper analyses the relationship between firms' multi-factor productivity and the effective employment density of the areas where they operate. Quantifying these agglomeration elasticities is of central importance in the evaluation of the wider economic…

Building Bridges: Treating a New Transport Link as a Real Option

Author: Arthur Grimes

Working Paper

A transportation investment that materially improves links between centres opens up previously unavailable options for new activities. Traditional cost-benefit analysis does not adequately take account of the value of this option; real options theory must…

Bridge to Somewhere: The Value of Auckland’s Northern Motorway Extensions

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Yun Liang

Working Paper

We estimate benefits that have resulted from extensions to Auckland's Northern Motorway since 1991. Population and employment rose substantially in locations near the new exits and to the north of the motorway extension, relative to…

Spatial Determinants of Land Prices in Auckland: Does the Metropolitan Urban Limit Have an Effect

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Yun Liang

Working Paper

An Auckland Land Value Annual Database

Authors: Arthur Grimes | Yun Liang

Working Paper

We construct an annual land value database at the meshblock (MB) level for the Greater Auckland region. The database provides a resource for research work that requires land values (per hectare) across the region.

The data…

Is Auckland a knowledge economy?

Author: Arthur Grimes

Presentation

Auckland, with a population of 1.3 million, is New Zealand's largest urban area. International studies demonstrate that knowledge-intensive economic activities are strongly correlated with high living standards and that these activities tend to cluster within…