When I grew up, nearly every Sunday was spent playing board games with my parents. Unsurprisingly for a future economist, my personal favourite was Monopoly. Read more

Recently, I met a New Zealander who asked me how I, as a relatively newly arrived foreigner, experienced New Zealand. I returned the question straight back to him. Read more

Two things are an anathema to free-market economists: government intervention and monopolies. And one thing is even worse: When public services are provided by a central government monopolist. Read more

There may not be much growth in Europe at present, but at least European leaders continue to produce an impressive number of growth initiatives. Last week, the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, José Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy, issued a joint letter ahead of the next G20 summit in St Petersburg in early September. Read more

Throughout most of human history, cities were the dominant force of political affairs. From the very first cities of Mesopotamia in the seventh millennium BC, to Athens and Rome, and the city states of the Middle Ages, cities drove the development of political affairs, of culture, of democracy, of finance, of the arts, of education. Read more

Last week, I wrote about how the euro crisis had been put on hold until the German federal election (A euro crisis on German ice, July 18). One of the policies affected by this crisis deferral is the European Union’s so-called banking union. Read more

A few weeks ago, I spoke at a breakfast event opened by Maurice Williamson, Minister for customs, Statistics, Land Information and Building and Construction. I wish I had taken the Minister’s remarks more seriously, as I would have been less surprised by the government’s announcement last week: the government is considering options to make credit card companies and online payment services like PayPal collect taxes on online shopping imports. Read more

After decades of shadow boxing and talking about it, the prospect of a trans-Atlantic free trade bloc is a big step closer. On July 8, formal talks began for a US-EU free trade zone, the largest free-trade agreement ever negotiated. Read more

General elections are meant to pick a government and election campaigns to discuss the most important issues facing a country. If that’s your definition of an election, you may wonder whether Germany is really heading to the polls on September 22. Read more

On Monday, European finance ministers agreed to the release of €6.8 billion for Greece. This followed the latest report of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund troika on Greek reform and austerity measures. Read more

A few years ago, my pet hates in the English language were narrowly defined. They were the handful of words and phrases football star David Beckham typically uttered when reporters courageously interviewed him. Read more

Sometimes Australia seems an odd country indeed. Kevin Rudd’s elevation to the Australian Labor Party (ALP) leadership last week after three years spent undermining his own leader, colleagues and political party, is the latest astonishing development. Read more

Of all the aspects of the euro crisis, the most worrying one is the effect it has had on the younger generation. Across Europe, youth unemployment has reached such proportions there is talk about a lost generation. Read more

There has been no shortage of excitement in Australian politics in recent years. Treachery, back-stabbing, scandals and defections are among the staples of Australian democracy (which one might now instinctively misspell as demo-crazy). Read more