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
When US President John F. Kennedy approved the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, he relied on advice from his staff, the defence force and the secret service. Read more
Earlier this week the Reserve Bank dropped the official cash rate by 50 base points to one percent - citing slow GDP growth over the past year and declining international trade. But what does this actually mean? Read more
After spending the past half a year watching the Brexit drama unfold, it’s easy to forget another Euro crisis is still simmering: that of Europe’s monetary union. For many years, starting with Greece’s sovereign debt crisis in late 2009, the Euro crisis was a staple of our daily news consumption. Read more
On Wednesday 7 August, the Reserve Bank is likely to cut the OCR to a new record low of 1.25%. Kiwibank economists are already predicting that the OCR could be slashed even further to 0.75% next year. Read more
When the smallish Skatbank, a direct bank based in Germany’s east, started charging its wealthy private depositors interest in November 2014, it made international headlines. It was the first German bank to do so, and negative interest rates were still regarded as a ridiculous aberration. Read more
A collegial relationship between Treasury and the Reserve Bank is a good thing in principle. Monetary and fiscal policy remain the most important levers of economic policy, and the two institutions in charge of those levers need to exchange their views. Read more
He famously claimed his chances of becoming Prime Minister were “about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive”. It probably means Boris Johnson will be a pizza topping in his next life. Read more
All’s well that ends well. There is a temptation to sum up the resolution of the European Union’s personnel-finding troubles in such a Shakespearean way. Read more
In late June, the Initiative took a delegation of our members to Copenhagen. For a week, more than three dozen New Zealand business leaders traveled Denmark and South Sweden. Read more
Next week, The New Zealand Initiative will be taking a delegation of more than three dozen senior business leaders to Copenhagen. Our members want to study and experience first-hand what makes Denmark one of the world’s most successful small countries. Read more
English is not my native language – not that you can tell by my German name or accent. I did learn the language, but the journey was most unusual. Read more
Denmark last Wednesday elected a Social Democrat-led government – so what else is new? Along with its Scandinavian neighbour Sweden, Denmark is the quintessential social democracy. Read more
New Zealand attracted global attention after unveiling a "world-first" well-being budget. It's based on priorities such as mental health and child poverty instead of the usual growth and jobs. Read more
Winston Peters’ comments on the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre were candid. Where Western politicians have turned not upsetting China over its human rights record into an art form, the Foreign Minister left diplomatic niceties behind. Read more
Ordinary elections are simple. Once the votes are counted and the number of seats in Parliament determined, you know who will govern for the coming years. Read more