In this month’s newsletter, Andrew Whiteford looks at the difficulties in predicting regional population growth, and the importance of good population estimates for planning.
We interview Andrew Beattie, a new economist to our team. In this issue, Andrew has written an article about New Zealand’s treatment of the plastic issue, and how we deal with our recycling.
Both our latest Forecasts and Quarterly Economic Monitor are available to subscribers via our website portal. Brad Olsen highlights the importance of government spending to economic growth, and what options are available to New Zealand
And finally, we round out with a map created by David Friggins, that gives some perspective on the size of Auckland relative to the rest of the country.
Local councils are once again putting their thoughts towards their Long Term (10-year) Plans which need to be completed next year. Fundamental to their plans are reliable metrics on the size of their current and future population.
Plastic packaging is being talked about more than any other time since it was first invented. With single-use plastic bags now banned, and our ability to outsource soft plastic recycling overseas becoming less viable, there are some fundamental shifts occurring for New Zealand. With more efforts to switch to reusable alternatives, and a rethink about plastic recycling, we need to focus much more on how we manage our waste.
Andrew Beattie has recently joined the Infometrics Team. This month we sit down to chat with Andrew about what he’s working on at Infometrics and what he sees in the future.
The July 2019 Infometrics forecasts show a long, slow, slowdown is on the cards for the New Zealand economy. With lower growth on the way, it’s worth highlighting some of the options that are available to New Zealand to combat the slowdown along with the opportunities and challenges of these options.
We know that Auckland is a big part of the country’s economy. In 2018 it had 35% of the population, 36% of the jobs, and accounted for 38% of GDP – up from 31%, 32% and 34% respectively in 2000. But just how big is that really?
