Motu Economic and Public Policy Research

Motu Economic and Public Policy Research is New Zealand's leading non-profit economic and public policy research institute. Its reputation is based on its work not being compromised by any expressed ideology or political position. Environmental regulation is a key research area that includes work on New Zealand's emission trading scheme and the development of emissions trading schemes in other countries, nutrient trading and water quality, and land use change and forestry. Other research areas include housing, infrastructure and economic geography, savings policy, and labour and population economics. While primarily a research organisation, Motu sometimes does advisory, consulting and teaching work in areas related to its research. Since Motu was founded in 2000, it has aimed to promote well informed and reasoned debate on public policy issues relevant to New Zealand decision-making. To this end, Motu is committed to three broad goals: top-quality research, on which its success is built; the free dissemination of that research, designed to build trust in its research, its independence and its charitable status; and contributions that work to build economic and public policy research capability in New Zealand, including teaching, offering junior research roles and internships, distribution of datasets and the facilitation of public workshops.