Aaron Schiff
Aaron specialises in network economics, regulatory and competition issues, intellectual property and innovation, forecasting, and data analysis, and econometrics. He has published research in peer-reviewed international journals, and has consulted for a number of sectors in New Zealand and abroad including fixed and mobile telecommunications, land transport, banking, payment systems, and aviation.
Contact Details
Expertise
Recent Work
Competition between supermarkets
Expert testimony on economic issues arising from a proposal for a new Pak'nSave supermarket at Wairau Rd on Auckland's North Shore, before the Environment Court.
Economic effects of international internet bandwidth competition
Analysed and modelled the effects of additional competition in international internet bandwidth on retail broadband markets in New Zealand.
Interchange fee setting and other credit card network rules
Economic advice on competition issues arising from the setting of interchange fees in open (four-party) credit card networks.
Local loop unbundling
Provided advice on price benchmarking and reviewed modelling of the economic effects of local loop unbundling in New Zealand.
Mobile termination
Provided expert advice and analysis on economic, competitive and regulatory issues relating to termination of calls on mobile networks.
Subloop unbundling
Provided expert advice on competition and regulatory issues relating to price and non-price conditions of access to unbundled sub-loop services.
The impact of the price of oil on inbound tourism
This was a three-year research project delivered in partnership with Lincoln University and Landcare Research. The main objective of the project was to assess the sensitivity of the inbound tourism market to the price of oil. The outputs from the project included several published articles and a range of working papers, as well as an online oil price risk assessment tool for New Zealand tourism businesses.
Tourism and Aviation: Critical Linkages
Jointly with the University of Otago, Covec undertook detailed research into the economic drivers of the New Zealand aviation sector and the implications for tourism.
Tourism forecasting programme 2002-2010
Covec has managed the Ministry of Tourism’s forecasting programme since 2002. The outputs from this programme include detailed forecasts of international visits, nights and expenditure segmented by purpose of travel and origin, as well as forecasts of domestic visits, nights and expenditure segmented by purpose of travel and type of trip (day vs. overnight). Covec has played a key role in planning and managing the ongoing development of this programme.
Universal service costs
Analysis of economic issues associated with the TSO instrument under the Telecommunciations Act 2001, including matters related to technological optimisation.
Valuation of broadcasting spectrum rights
Development of a simple, robust and transparent method for valuing the renewal of broadcast spectrum rights.