Events can be a great way to stimulate a local area – bringing a cash injection from out of town visitors, raising the profile of an area and local businesses to visitors and migrants, or simply bringing a community closer together. Many communities choose to support events which align with their strategic goals, but it’s important to assess if the benefits really stack up, and if a public investment is warranted. Infometrics offers an event impact calculator to our regional clients, empowering them to calculate impacts for themselves.
Category: Regional
Regional economic issues
A day in the life of an Economist – Nick Brunsdon
Nick Brunsdon has recently joined the Infometrics Team. This month we sit down to chat with Nick about what he’s working on at Infometrics and what brought him full circle to work in economics.
Finding workers to build Dunedin’s hospital
Dunedin is finally getting new hospital, much to the relief of locals! Current estimates put the cost of the new hospital at $1.4bn, with construction scheduled to take place over a six-year period from August 2020 to mid-2026. It will be the largest project in the area in living memory and will require different approaches to get the right mix of workers. In this article we draw on our construction sector and local labour market to examine the opportunities and challenges in store for Dunedin.
Media Release: Wellbeing in provincial NZ still being neglected
A new report from economic consultancy Infometrics highlights the stark divide in wellbeing between urban and rural New Zealand. Regional Wellbeing marks the first attempt to comprehensively report on wellbeing at a local level around New Zealand. It covers 30 indicators and draws from Infometrics’ online Regional Wellbeing Framework.
Wellbeing: understanding local progress
All eyes are on wellbeing this week, as Finance Minister Grant Robertson unveils the world’s first wellbeing budget. But the Government has been quiet as to wellbeing differs across New Zealand. At Infometrics we thought this was a massive gap that needed to be filled, so we developed a Regional Wellbeing Framework. This article outlines introduces our Regional Wellbeing Framework and provides a teaser to our forthcoming regional wellbeing report that will be released on 11 June.
A day in the life of a Data Analyst – Carl Hodder
Carl Hodder has only been with Infometrics for a short time, but already he’s making an impact. He is our new Data Analyst and works in all areas of the business with responsibility for the data pipeline.
He is also involved in the development and delivery of our product offerings and takes a keen interest in enhancing the client experience.
Chart of the month: one sunny day…
The Treasury hit headlines a month or two back when considering ‘sun and moon feelings’. While sun and moon feelings did not meet our criteria in when developing the Infometrics regional wellbeing framework, we thought it would be fun to shine the line sunshine hours to see what area came up trumps.
Assessing China’s importance to regional New Zealand
Over the last month there have been a range of concerns raised about the diplomatic relationship between New Zealand and China, with the announcement that the 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism launch event has been postponed and government decisions being critical of China setting a foundation for worry.
Love is in the air, and the wallet
It seems that love was in the air again this year, with Cupid’s arrow aiming as much for people’s wallets as their hearts. Looking around and seeing all the hopeless romantics and their gestures of love ranging from rose bouquets to axe throwing made me question just what all the hype is about?
Auckland’s growth dominance continues, for now
Infometrics’ new estimates of regional GDP show that Auckland was the fastest growing region in the year to March 2018, expanding by 3.9% (see Graph 1). Auckland has regularly been towards the top of the regional league table throughout the last seven years. Its growth during 2018 was underpinned by a strong services performance, with industries such as professional, scientific, and technical services, financial and insurance services, and retail trade all expanding by more than 5.0%