New Zealand schoolkids' performance on international maths tests leaves a bit to be desired. Both the Programme for International Student Assessment test (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the two main global benchmarks, show declining scores. Read more

The Fiscal Responsibility Act forces government to pay attention to its expenditures. But what about the cases where government instead compels you to do the spending on its behalf? Read more

The best case we can make for the Reserve Bank’s latest round of loan-to-value home mortgage regulations (LVRs) is not particularly compelling. Or, at least, it requires stretching our understanding of the bank’s prudential regulation mandate a bit farther than I’d like. Read more

Growing up in Canada, I often heard that profiting from illness was just wrong. Canada’s public health system generally banned private medicine. Read more

If we took seriously the dozens of reports tallying the alleged costs of every social ill, the world would seem a pretty depressing place. I would be surprised if the sum of high-end costs reported in studies into alcohol abuse, obesity, incontinence and mental illness were much less than annual GDP. Read more

It’s easy to get reasonable people to agree that economic growth is a good thing, at least in principle. The New Zealand Initiative hosted a panel discussion on its recent report, by Jenesa Jeram and me, outlining the case for economic growth and dispelling a few myths around growth. Read more

Apart from longer life expectancy, better health, improved education, a cleaner environment, better opportunities for our children and a happier country, what has economic growth ever done for New Zealanders? Last night, MPs Chris Bishop, Dr David Clark and James Shaw debated the merits of economic growth, and of our recent report on it, at Mac’s Brew Bar in Wellington for an audience of about 150. Read more

The #eFairnessNZ campaign says it wants to level the playing field between imported goods and those bought domestically by New Zealand consumers. Because it costs more to collect the tax on lower valued goods than the tax revenues are worth, GST is not charged on imported products valued at less than $400. Read more

Sometimes, it takes a Labour leader to point out the deadweight costs of taxation. And so there is a lot to like in Andrew Little’s economic policy statement. Read more

A few things puzzle me in the rights-holders' cease and desist letter to New Zealand ISPs offering "Global Mode" services. That's likely because I am not a lawyer. Read more

Should it be illegal to be a bit of a jerk? While all but the most tragic of politics aficionados watched the Black Caps grind through a cliffhanger semifinal win against South Africa rather than watching Parliament TV, the Harmful Digital Communications Bill passed its second reading. Read more