Our Chief Economist Eric Crampton joined Sean Plunket on The Platform to unpack New Zealand First's policy to bar non-citizens from receiving superannuation. Eric pushed back on the claim that New Zealand is an outlier internationally, noting that superannuation-style pensions in Canada, the UK, and across much of Europe are typically based on residency rather than citizenship, much like New Zealand's own system, which already requires 10 to 20 years of residence depending on birth year. Read more

The four months before an election aren’t great for those who care about good policy. Politicians’ competence at other times is questionable. Read more

Following the government's decision to delay a planned fuel excise increase until 2028, our Chief Economist Eric Crampton joined Sean Plunket on The Platform to explain why funding roads this way is bad policy. Eric traced how New Zealand's road funding has drifted from a disciplined, user-pays model, where road user charges and fuel excise funded maintenance first, with taxpayer money reserved for tightly-vetted new capacity, to one where general taxpayer top-ups have become routine and cost-benefit standards have slipped. Read more

This week, the government introduced legislation intended to protect youths from online harms. If the Bill passes, covered social media platforms will be required to take ‘reasonable steps’ to stop under-16s from having accounts. Platforms that do not do enough will risk large fines. Read more

Dr Eric Crampton talked to Sean Plunket on The Platform about Treasury's lack of economic expertise. Dr Crampton argued that Treasury can tell you more statistics about they're diversity than the economic education of their staff, begging the question if Treasury are achieving their purpose. Read more

The back of the bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label that I keep at the office has two labels. The first company-branded label appears to be designed for international markets that use the metric system. Read more

New Zealand’s Treasury has two big jobs that nobody else can do. They’re both highlighted in the first line of Treasury’s ‘Who we are’ website. Read more