Back to Resources

Research Report 550 Transport productivity and sub-industry measures

Published: | Category: Research programme , Research & reports | Audience: General

This research investigated using four different approaches to measuring the productivity of the sub-industries (ANZSIC three digits) that comprise the New Zealand transport sector. The four approaches investigated were the growth accounting framework, the Tornqvist index, the Malmquist index and the input–output tables-based approach. The unit-record data available from Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure were applied to enable the analysis. 

The productivity indicators derived from the four approaches that are presented in this report were disaggregated by mode (air, sea, road and rail) and movement type (people and freight). This report offers insights on the sources and components of transport productivity growth and will serve as a starting point to better understand the contributions that various transport services make to the economy. 

As part of the research project, the software codes to retrieve and clean the raw data and compute productivity indicators have been placed in SNZ’s datalab. This means that the NZ Transport Agency and other consortium partners will be equipped to replicate the analysis over time.

Keywords: growth accounting, index number formulae, input–output-based productivity indicators, integrated data infrastructure, Malmquist index, multifactor productivity, longitudinal business database, technical change, technical efficiency, Tornqvist index

Publication details

  • Author:
  • Published: June 2014
  • Reference: 550
  • ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-478-41947-4