Welcome to New Zealand Public Finance

What is Public Finance?

The field of public finance is usually defined as the study of the taxation, spending and deficit activities of government. For example, Jonathan Gruber’s public finance text currently summarises public finance as answering four key questions:

1.   When should the government intervene in the economy?
2.   How might the government intervene?
3.   What is the effect of those interventions on economic outcomes?
4.   Why do governments choose to intervene in the way that they do?
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What is the New Zealand Public Finance website?

The NZ Public Finance website provides a research and policy ‘hub’ on a range of public finance topics for scholars, policy analysts, media and other interested parties. Public finance is broadly defined to include:
1.   Taxation, public expenditure and debt
2.   Social welfare
3.   Fiscal policy
4.   Public sector analysis and performance


Disclaimer
These pages describe the activities and personal views of the contributors.  They should not be attributed to employers and affiliations of the contributors.

The New Zealand Public Finance website is the initiative of the Chair in Public Finance at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), New Zealand, but is independent of the University.
To make suggestions for this website, please contact [email protected].

In the Media

June 3, 2015: Professor Norman Gemmell (Chair in Public Finance, Victoria University) comments on the prices of goods and services in supermarket store brands for consumer magazine.


May 26, 2015: Professor Norman Gemmell (Chair in Public Finance, Victoria University) discusses the effects of the new capital gains tax in the Dominion Post.


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