Oliver is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.
Oliver is available to comment on all of the Initiative’s research areas.
Phone: +64 4 499 0790
In a series of articles earlier this year, we introduced Insights readers to some basic ideas from the wonderful world of economics. Today, we are releasing the compilation of pieces in a short pamphlet, The ABC of Economic Literacy. Read more
Only until a couple of years ago, it would have been unthinkable to suggest that New Zealand could hold some policy lessons for Australia, let alone that it could be seen as a model that Australia might wish to emulate. Australians had become used to regarding New Zealanders as their poorer cousins. Read more
Do today’s politicians have the courage to make hard choices? Or has the furious pace of modern politics put an end to the age of reform? Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich speaks on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to New Zealand. Read more
Dutch graphic design student Zilla van den Born recently made international headlines with her Bachelor’s thesis on ‘Fakebooking’. For those of us familiar with Facebook but not with Fakebooking, her project was all about falsifying her own life and posting about it on the social network. Read more
There can be little doubt that New Zealand house prices, particularly in Auckland, have reached eye-watering heights. This week it was reported that capital valuations in Auckland have risen 33 percent over the past three years. Read more
Two countries, two successful internet entrepreneurs, two clashes with government. Last week we witnessed an epic Twitter battle between Trade Me founder Sam Morgan and Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce over the usefulness of research grants. Read more
This week, the New Zealand Herald ran a couple of stories about the young generation being shut out of the housing market. The newspaper even had a snappy name for these poor Gen Y’ers who are resigned to the fact that they will never own a home: “property orphans”. Read more
The elections in the state of Saxony a couple of weeks ago mark a historic shift in Germany’s political landscape. The liberal, business-friendly Free Democrat Party got kicked out of parliament, having lost two thirds of their previous voters and being left with only 3.8 percent of the vote. Read more
New Zealand has to wait another three weeks for the result of its elections, in another MMP country they went to the polls last Sunday. In the German state of Saxony, voters delivered a fractured parliament in which none of the traditional coalitions of the right or the left had a clear and robust majority. Read more
Allegedly economics is the ‘dismal science’. Indeed, if you believe the wife of one of the economists in our team, you should avoid the company of economists like the plague. Read more
It is an utterly ironic situation for Europe. Every bit of bad news for its economies is good news for asset markets. Read more
Last week I wrote that the euro crisis was not over -- far from it (The calm before the eurozone storm, 14 August 2014). However, having just read the latest article by Wolfgang Münchau, a fellow eurozone commentator and Financial Times columnist, I have to agree with his suggestion that we should no longer call it the euro 'crisis'. Read more
It is a fine line between commemorating and glorifying wars. The centenary of World War I is a good opportunity to reflect what this war, and other wars, mean to us today. Read more