No fuel was available where I lived on the east side of Christchurch immediately after the 2011 earthquake. Power was out. Read more

So far this year, the government’s tobacco excise revenue is $164 million below forecast. If that pace continues, the annual shortfall will reach about $225 million. Read more

A principal who runs a school well does not get to tell parents what to cook for dinner. The authority is real – but it is specific. Read more

From 2007 until about two weeks ago, New Zealand’s regulators considered prediction markets as a kind of futures market. Then the Department of Internal Affairs decided they are gambling. Read more

Many pre-modern people believed gambling was bad and suppressed it. If you think about it, your life insurer is a bookie betting that you’re not going to die this year. Read more

No straight thing can be built of our crooked timber. We can and will err, even with best efforts and intentions. Read more

The furore over immigration settings in the trade deal with India provides an excellent reminder about a basic policy principle. You’ll have a hard time getting a policy right if you’ve misdiagnosed the problem. Read more

The coalition agreements that formed the government promised an important change to the Commerce Act. The Commerce Commission has always been able to take on traditional cartel arrangements: secret agreements where businesses divvy up a market, restrict output, and raise prices. Read more

Samuel Colt invented the revolver and a slogan to go with it. “God created men, Col. Read more

Think for a moment about how some pharmacy services are funded. Or rather, not really funded. Read more

Right now, Auckland Council’s zoning allows people to build about a million shops selling tasty pies. Tomorrow, someone could buy or lease a commercially-zoned site near you and turn it into a shop selling pies. Read more