As economics Nobel laureate Paul Krugman once put it, “Productivity isn’t everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything.” Which makes you wonder what Krugman would think of yesterday’s Budget. Hidden behind headlines of benefit increases, spending initiatives and a new unemployment insurance scheme lies a worrying small detail. Read more

Potential skilled migrants deserve a few warnings about what they are getting into in moving to New Zealand – the kinds of disclosures that are often mandatory in the private sector to ensure consumers can make informed decisions The Fair Trading Act’s provisions against deceptive and misleading conduct do not seem to apply to Immigration New Zealand. Caveat emptor. Read more

The third column in our Insights newsletter is meant to be lighter. Something a bit wry or humorous – an amuse-bouche to close out the week. Read more

Vaccine access campaigners get one very big and very important thing very right. If only the richer part of the world can afford Covid vaccinations, the costs will not be borne only by people in poorer countries suffering from ongoing waves of illness and misery. Read more

What if the real problem with local government is not that there are too many of them, but rather too few? Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta in April announced an independent review of local government. Read more

New Zealand was not caught entirely flat-footed last January when Covid first began making itself known. But we were several steps behind Taiwan, whose Central Epidemic Command Centre was alert to the risk very early. Read more

Governments have a hard time planning for longer term risks. Unless a specific risk, like climate change, draws voters’ attention, it is more likely to be ignored. Read more

If you’d thought that sorting Wellington’s transport issues was at the heart of the latest efforts to solve Wellington’s transport issues, well, you don’t know Wellington. For the past five years, Let’s Get Wellington Moving has been consulting with over ten thousand people and 75 stakeholder groups. Read more