A stylized fact in criminology holds that those who commit crimes are more likely to be victims of crime, and vice versa. We use population-level administrative data of all police investigations in New Zealand to examine the possibility of this victim-offender overlap. Two-way fixed effects and...

Despite presenting potentially significant challenges and opportunities, the possible implications for workplace health and safety (WHS) of future-of-work trends have so far received scant attention. This paper, therefore, empirically examines the relationship between future-of-work trends and...

This paper uses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data linked to administrative data to track the educational and labour market outcomes of young people. Students with lower skills have lower rates of participation in further education. While men with low skills out-earn...

The literature on health shocks finds that minor injuries have only a short-term impact on labour market outcomes. However, mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs, commonly referred to as concussions) may be different as the medical literature highlights that they can have long-term health and...

There are substantial ethnic gaps in higher education in NZ, despite more than a decade of considerable policy effort aimed at this concern. This study uses newly linked administrative data to examine the underachievement of Māori and Pasifika relative to Europeans. We follow a population...

State merit scholarships may affect academic outcomes for low-performing college students, yet low-performers are generally overlooked in existing literature. New Mexico's lottery scholarship provides tuition-free college to residents meeting a uniquely "low-bar" eligibility criteria. Using...

Income gaps in college enrollment, persistence, and graduation raise concerns for those interested in equal opportunity in higher education. We present findings from a randomly assigned scholarship for low-income students at a medium-sized public four-year university. The program focused solely...

The minimum alcohol purchasing age in New Zealand was lowered from 20 to 18 in December 1999. Focusing on two distinct legislative regimes, we utilize a national-level census of criminal convictions to examine the impact of unrestricted alcohol purchasing rights on alcohol-related crime. Our...

KiwiSaver is a voluntary savings scheme aimed at increasing the retirement wealth of a target population. A critical element shaping the success of KiwiSaver is the extent to which individuals participate in the scheme, given its voluntary nature; and, having chosen to participate, the extent to...

Housing affordability has been a topic of much interest in New Zealand over recent years with the median house price increasing by over 50% between 2004 and 2008. The aim of this paper is to inform debate by drawing out evidence from two surveys: the Household Economic Survey (HES); and the...