The Redistributive Effects of a Minimum Wage Increase in New Zealand: A Microsimulation Analysis

This paper examines the potential effects on inequality and poverty of a minimum wage increase, based on a microsimulation model that captures the details of household composition and the income tax and welfare benefit system and allows for labour supply responses. Results suggest that, largely due to the composition of household incomes, a policy of increasing the minimum wage has a relatively small effect on the inequality of income per adult equivalent person, and a money metric utility measure, using several inequality indices. Hence, the minimum wage policy does not appear to be particularly well targeted, largely due to many low wage earners being secondary earners in higher income households, while many low income households have no wage earners at all. These results are reinforced when allowing for wage spillovers further up the wage distribution. Nevertheless, a minimum wage increase can have a more substantial effect on some poverty measures for sole parents in employment.     

Improving carbon offsetting appeals in online airplane ticket purchasing: testing new messages,and using new test methods

ABSTRACT

Voluntary carbon offsetting by air passengers could help counteract environmental damage caused by air travel. But adoption rates among air travellers are low. This study (1) develops new communication messages which counteract barriers to carbon offsetting identified in prior studies, and (2) tests their effectiveness using psychophysiological and attitudinal measures, a technique new to sustainable tourism research methodologies. Results point to low levels of traveller awareness of carbon offsetting schemes, the primary need for any message to attract the air passengers’ attention, the superiority of pictorial and short textual information as well as the identification of particularly effective content. The study makes three key contributions: (1) it highlights the critical importance of awareness raising as a precursor of behavioural change, (2) it offers tangible recommendations for improving carbon offsetting messages, and (3) it demonstrates the usefulness of psychophysiological measures for pre-testing alternative social marketing messages aimed at increasing environmentally sustainable tourist behaviour across a range of applications. Findings of considerable practical importance include refinements of current messages to increase both attention levels and emotional arousal, and the positive impact of promoting additional social co-benefits alongside environmental benefits. Future valuable research themes using psychophysiological and attitudinal measures are suggested.