This is the best job in the country. If you're interested feel free to get in touch!.

This is very much a work in progress, with more to do and check. But I hope it helps frame today’s debate on regulation and productivity: how rules are applied matters. But the rules themselves likely matter much more.

But a big part of putting this out now is to facilitate more feedback. I'm keen to hear views from those interested in constructive discussion about what they think, or what could be done to strengthen the paper.

A highlight of writing this paper has been the feedback from housing supply and productivity researchers across Aus and NZ. Their input has already improved it greatly, and given me plenty of ideas to make it better still.

There are many ways zoning reform could have boosted productivity. Using the data I have, I explore a few. Firm dynamics stand out: lots of new entrants, small firms took on more workers, and the multi-unit market appears to foster more competition.

This also seems to hold if you just look at simpler metrics - like completions or floor space per worker. I also try to do a fair bit of work to rule out other explanations - although there is undoubtably more to do in the next draft!.

The core claim is pretty basic: NZ has increased construction output far faster than inputs, particularly in residential sectors, in upzoned cities, and around the timing of reforms in those cities.

Joining the national conversation on productivity and economic reform, today I’ve released a working paper presenting the case that zoning reform in New Zealand boosted construction sector productivity over the past decade. Read it here: /1.

One of the cooler (and incredibly complicated) things that I've worked on.

A very good report from the Queensland PC today on construction productivity. Good to see governments taking the international evidence on zoning reform seriously.

Full research note here:.

Our research features in the AFR today, highlighting the wide variation in tax paid by people on the same income.

RT @albrgr: Awesome paper finding huge benefits from relaxing zoning constraints in NYC, even once you account for the big costs of redevel….

The increasing steepness of the lifecycle earnings profile has largely been unaddressed by policy.

Some of my work highlighted in the AFR today shows that almost all the income growth over the past decade has gone to older Australians, when people are already wealthier, while younger workers have seen little improvement.

RT @michael_wiebe: A few months ago, a paper came out challenging the idea that supply and demand applies to housing. As you'd expect, this….

NB3: I will probably stop comparing Auckland to Wellington City at some point, for a variety of well documented factors that make it a imperfect comparison.

NB2: The latest household income data is from March 2024, whereas we now have rent data into 2025. Given that nominal rents remained flat throughout 2024, the gap between rents and incomes has widened, assuming nominal household incomes have increased since March 2024.

NB1: This is rents of transacted properties, so would be higher than the overall rents paid across the market. Additionally, it doesn't control for compositional shifts (e.g. new builds in better locations in Auckland could make their line appear higher).

Rents of transacted properties in Auckland again down in real terms since full upzoning. Well down relative to household incomes over the same period.