To misquote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Methinks today too many business leaders and politicians doth protest too much.” Less lip service to virtue and more meaningful action might be a fine thing. Or, at least, the risk of having to act in accordance with professed virtues might temper such protestations. Read more

Taken at face value, the government’s zero-carbon bill is a toothless façade. On closer examination, it looks more like a Trojan Horse for dictatorial government by decree. Read more

Rabobank recently reported farmer confidence had plummeted in the September quarter. Some 41% of surveyed farmers expected the rural economy to worsen next year. Read more

The apparently successful illegal occupation of private property in Auckland’s Ihumātao is potentially a serious setback for the rule of law, and thereby New Zealanders’ wellbeing. Also disturbing are the more immediate implications for Auckland housing and the Treaty of Waitangi claims process. Read more

In 1936, the father of Keynesian economics, John Maynard Keynes, used the term ‘animal spirits’ to refer to the fluctuating human emotions that can drive economic decisions in stressful times. Today the term is most often found in the context of investors’ decisions. Read more

What are budget advisers to make of the Reserve Bank governor’s call for increased public and private spending? Adrian Orr has reportedly even floated, as a future contingency option, taxing cash holdings to encourage savers to either spend or invest to stimulate the economy. Read more

These are strange times, even for economists. Fearmongers are urging governments to pump up their spending in order to maintain economic activity. Read more

Alan Duff’s latest book – A Conversation with My Country: Where we have come from. Where we can go. Read more

We cannot vouch for the authenticity of the following conversation that mysteriously arrived in my Inbox. The sender’s name was Dante, surely a fake. Read more

The Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development’s latest economic survey of New Zealand was published last week. I always read these surveys with a somewhat jaundiced eye. Read more

There is too much critical tosh in the public domain these days about GDP (gross domestic product). GDP is being criticised because it does not measure wellbeing. Read more

A Radio New Zealand journalist reported in the last fortnight that other top economists privately shared Eric Crampton’s publicly expressed concerns over Treasury’s economic capability. Yesterday, Treasury’s former deputy chief economist went public on the malaise in the organisation. Read more