title: The housing market and economic inequality: An investigation into New Zealand

authors: Farquhar, Matthew

subjects: Inequality

abstract: New Zealand has experienced unprecedented growth in house prices, rent prices, and net wealth per adult over the last three decades. This incredible growth has led to New Zealand political parties and media outlets arguing that the residential property market is driving economic inequality. Despite these claims, only a few studies have empirically tested the impact of house prices on income or wealth inequality using New Zealand data. This thesis contributes to those few studies, analysing the relationship using aggregated annual data from 1995 to 2020. This is the most extended period for any New Zealand analysis. The primary analysis approach is an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model used in conjunction with a principal components analysis, both of which perform well with small sample sizes. An increase in house prices is found to decrease the wealth Gini coefficient and increase the income Gini coefficient in the short- and long-run; all else held constant.

The analysis gives evidence of heterogeneity in the relationship—different deciles experience varying changes in wealth or income share following a house price shock. Heterogeneity arises because housing-related assets are disproportionately allocated across the income and wealth distribution. The heterogeneity across deciles can lead to contrasting results for different inequality measures. Furthermore, the wealth inequality heterogeneity becomes accentuated during a negative house price shock in the short-run. This is driven by the differing ability of deciles to reshuffle their asset portfolios in response to a house price shock. However, the wealth inequality relationship becomes symmetric in the long-run, while for the income distribution, the heterogeneity is always symmetric. A non-linear ARDL approach estimates potential asymmetries and separates the behaviours in the short- and long-run.

Previous research rarely analyses wealth and income inequality measures concurrently, while this thesis employs two strategies to do so. First, a seemingly unrelated regression is used, which has an efficiency gain when accounting for the joint disturbances. The efficiency gain yields more accurate model estimates with less variance. Second, a system of equations is utilised. Controlling for income inequality in the wealth inequality model lowers the impact of house prices on wealth inequality. However, when the simultaneity issue is mitigated, controlling for both inequality types concurrently makes minimal difference to the house price estimates. Finally, introducing loan-to-value ratio restrictions for residential property is found to have no significant impact on wealth inequality but increases the income Gini coefficient in the same period. Overall, this thesis provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between the New Zealand housing market and economic inequality.

text: The housing market and economic inequality: An investigation into New Zealand New Zealand has experienced unprecedented growth in house prices, rent prices, and net wealth per adult over the last three decades. This incredible growth has led to New Zealand political parties and media outlets arguing that the residential property market is driving economic inequality. Despite these claims, only a few studies have empirically tested the impact of house prices on income or wealth inequality using New Zealand data. This thesis contributes to those few studies, analysing the relationship using aggregated annual data from 1995 to 2020. This is the most extended period for any New Zealand analysis. The primary analysis approach is an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model used in conjunction with a principal components analysis, both of which perform well with small sample sizes. An increase in house prices is found to decrease the wealth Gini coefficient and increase the income Gini coefficient in the short- and long-run; all else held constant.

The analysis gives evidence of heterogeneity in the relationship—different deciles experience varying changes in wealth or income share following a house price shock. Heterogeneity arises because housing-related assets are disproportionately allocated across the income and wealth distribution. The heterogeneity across deciles can lead to contrasting results for different inequality measures. Furthermore, the wealth inequality heterogeneity becomes accentuated during a negative house price shock in the short-run. This is driven by the differing ability of deciles to reshuffle their asset portfolios in response to a house price shock. However, the wealth inequality relationship becomes symmetric in the long-run, while for the income distribution, the heterogeneity is always symmetric. A non-linear ARDL approach estimates potential asymmetries and separates the behaviours in the short- and long-run.

Previous research rarely analyses wealth and income inequality measures concurrently, while this thesis employs two strategies to do so. First, a seemingly unrelated regression is used, which has an efficiency gain when accounting for the joint disturbances. The efficiency gain yields more accurate model estimates with less variance. Second, a system of equations is utilised. Controlling for income inequality in the wealth inequality model lowers the impact of house prices on wealth inequality. However, when the simultaneity issue is mitigated, controlling for both inequality types concurrently makes minimal difference to the house price estimates. Finally, introducing loan-to-value ratio restrictions for residential property is found to have no significant impact on wealth inequality but increases the income Gini coefficient in the same period. Overall, this thesis provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between the New Zealand housing market and economic inequality.

year: 2023

title: Saturated: a study in fat obsession

authors: Cowley, Natalie Anne

subjects: Fat

abstract: This thesis examines both contemporary and historical meanings surrounding human body FAT in order to illuminate, chiefly, the forces that have rendered it both an omnipresent and negative entity in Western societies.  It explores the apparent contradiction that we must exist amidst hyper-consumptive capitalism yet display no bodily evidence of such consumption.  Along with an investigation into alternative bodily conceptions to that of the hegemonic West, a discourse analysis is employed to challenge the key assumptions that underpin the current 'obesity epidemic' and its ensuing 'war on obesity' so that body FAT may be configured differently.  

It is shown that, because bodily conceptions and ideals are complex cultural constructions, body FAT, as a substance, is not the scourge it is presently portrayed, but rather a substance that signifies most of what consumer society despises and fears.  It is argued that the 'war on obesity' has not been successful, and will continue to be ineffective, because the focus should not be on losing body FAT but rather on the conditions of poverty that generate overall ill-health.  It is concluded that such a 'war', if sustained in its current fashion, will only serve to further malign the situations of those deemed 'overweight and obese'.

text: Saturated: a study in fat obsession This thesis examines both contemporary and historical meanings surrounding human body FAT in order to illuminate, chiefly, the forces that have rendered it both an omnipresent and negative entity in Western societies.  It explores the apparent contradiction that we must exist amidst hyper-consumptive capitalism yet display no bodily evidence of such consumption.  Along with an investigation into alternative bodily conceptions to that of the hegemonic West, a discourse analysis is employed to challenge the key assumptions that underpin the current 'obesity epidemic' and its ensuing 'war on obesity' so that body FAT may be configured differently.  

It is shown that, because bodily conceptions and ideals are complex cultural constructions, body FAT, as a substance, is not the scourge it is presently portrayed, but rather a substance that signifies most of what consumer society despises and fears.  It is argued that the 'war on obesity' has not been successful, and will continue to be ineffective, because the focus should not be on losing body FAT but rather on the conditions of poverty that generate overall ill-health.  It is concluded that such a 'war', if sustained in its current fashion, will only serve to further malign the situations of those deemed 'overweight and obese'.

year: 2006

title: Aihe Pepene

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Sharing the same illustrious whakapapa as his brother Reha Aperahama, Aihe Pepene was prominent when living in the Thames district before settling at Te Aroha in 1878. When speculators tried to acquire the Thames foreshore from Pepene and others in 1870, he became involved in the subsequent legal actions over unpaid promissory notes. Later he would acquire interests in many blocks of land, and received a steady income by leasing or selling these plus his share in the goldfields revenue. When the Aroha Block was considered by the land court for the last time, in 1878, he conducted the case for Ngati Rahiri.
He invested in four Hauraki goldfields, and was briefly an owner and skipper of two small river steamers, an unsuccessful endeavour that resulted in his being forced to sell more land to meet his debts. Once his 1880 and 1881 financial difficulties were resolved, no more such problems recurred. 
A leading rangatira in Hauraki generally as well as at Te Aroha, he would be elected to a Maori Committee that was soon revealed to have no significance. Closely involved with Pakeha, he assisted settlement, and his loyalty to the Crown was illustrated by his becoming an officer in the Thames Native Volunteer Corps. A member of the Church of England for many years, like many Maori he became a Mormon, a faith perhaps more appropriate to his private life, for he had more than one wife, notoriously eloping with the wife of a more senior rangatira despite already being married.

text: Aihe Pepene Sharing the same illustrious whakapapa as his brother Reha Aperahama, Aihe Pepene was prominent when living in the Thames district before settling at Te Aroha in 1878. When speculators tried to acquire the Thames foreshore from Pepene and others in 1870, he became involved in the subsequent legal actions over unpaid promissory notes. Later he would acquire interests in many blocks of land, and received a steady income by leasing or selling these plus his share in the goldfields revenue. When the Aroha Block was considered by the land court for the last time, in 1878, he conducted the case for Ngati Rahiri.
He invested in four Hauraki goldfields, and was briefly an owner and skipper of two small river steamers, an unsuccessful endeavour that resulted in his being forced to sell more land to meet his debts. Once his 1880 and 1881 financial difficulties were resolved, no more such problems recurred. 
A leading rangatira in Hauraki generally as well as at Te Aroha, he would be elected to a Maori Committee that was soon revealed to have no significance. Closely involved with Pakeha, he assisted settlement, and his loyalty to the Crown was illustrated by his becoming an officer in the Thames Native Volunteer Corps. A member of the Church of England for many years, like many Maori he became a Mormon, a faith perhaps more appropriate to his private life, for he had more than one wife, notoriously eloping with the wife of a more senior rangatira despite already being married.

year: 2016