The Productivity Commission’s report on state sector productivity makes for dismal reading. We all could be enjoying either more of the benefits that government programmes can provide, or lower taxes, or a combination of the two if the state sector had a greater focus on productivity. Read more

Housing Minister Phil Twyford’s address to Infrastructure New Zealand’s Building Nations Symposium last week made it very clear that the current governing coalition is very serious about fixing Auckland’s housing affordability crisis. But the conference also made a few other things clear. Read more

I noted a few problems in Treasury’s staffing in my column a fortnight ago. Among staff whose qualifications are known working as analysts, senior analysts, principal advisors and senior managers, economists are in the minority. Read more

Treasury is the heart of economic expertise in government. But it is more than that. Read more

Last year, the Treasury received the Deloitte IPANZ Public Sector Excellence Award for its revised blinded graduate recruitment programme. Under the programme, Treasury’s recruiters did not know whether their potential hires held a degree in critical theory or in economics. Read more

It’s astounding. Time seems to be repeating. Read more

We are lucky that, last year, economist Aaron Schiff provided us with an excellent collective noun for a grouping of economists. Owls, in concert, form a parliament. Read more

Paternalism is a lot less annoying when you get to be the paternalist – at home with the kids, as pater- or materfamilias. Let’s begin by acknowledging two basic facts. Read more

This seems about the worst possible month to be suggesting that anybody should try to emulate anything going on in America. The place seems to be going mad in ways no longer funny to laugh at from very far away. Read more

Dilbert creator Scott Adams likened knowing a bit of economics to having a mild superpower. High among economists’ mild superpowers is the ability to use formal mathematics to define what words mean. Read more

In a classic Simpsons episode, Homer teaches a night course on having a successful marriage. Egged on by students wanting ever more details of their private life, Homer errs on the side of pleasing the students but irritating Marge – who kicks him out of the house. Read more

Having a change in government is a bit like moving house. When you pack up the house for a move, you get to take a hard look at a lot of stuff that’s accumulated over the years – things that might have been a mistake to buy in the first place and almost certainly should have been gotten rid of ages ago. Read more

When asked whether they own their home or rent, some people with a mortgage like to joke that the bank really owns it. If you don’t make your mortgage instalment, the bank can, in the limit, take the house away. Read more