On Friday, June 17, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children over the age of 6 months. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the vaccines the next day. Read more
It may be tempting for Turkish President Erdoğan to start a war against Greece to distract from domestic politics and inflation but even if Turkey won militarily, it would only further destabilise its economy and isolate itself more from other Nato members The last thing Europe needs right now is a war. Or, more precisely, another war. Read more
Oliver Hartwich joins Mike Treen and Damien Grant on The Working Groups Weekly Political Podcast hosted by Martyn Bradbury. They discuss a range of issues including Roe vs Wade, Economic Recession vs Economic Depression and Jacinda in Europe. Read more
In February, New Zealand’s PCR Covid testing system fell apart. The Ministry of Health, the Director-General of Health, and the Ministers should have known it would happen. Read more
I always believed that Magna Carta left us with a most valuable inheritance: the right to trial by jury. Even after learning that legal historians now regard this assertion as fiction, I did so. Read more
Paul Bloxham, HSBC’s chief economist, once described New Zealand as a “rockstar economy”. That was back in January 2014. Read more
On Monday this week, the prime minister said she was optimistic that the economy would not shrink further in the second quarter. That would avoid New Zealand officially being in recession. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Heather Du Plessis Allan, Newstalk ZB about why we should care that Labour gave NZTA officials less than 24 hours to come up with policy on the petrol excise duty discount.
Read more
Democracy Action engaged Professor James Allan to review the He Puapua Report. The result of Professor Allan’s analysis - "The Report of Professor James Allan on He Puapua: The Radical Prescription for Undermining Democracy and the Rule of Law". Read more
Just before 3 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, about a dozen NZTA and Ministry of Transport officials received a weekend-ruining email. Subject: “Cabinet paper: Urgent”. Read more
This month, Central Banking, the journal for the world’s monetary policy experts, hosted its virtual Summers Meetings. With inflation returning, the onset of a new European debt crisis, and the implications of geopolitical conflicts, central bankers have enough reasons to be worried right now. Read more
In this week's Initiative podcast, Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses with statistician Len Cook about concern to changes being made to the legislation governing New Zealand's statistics agency. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Oliver Hartwich talks with Eric Crampton about the Government's rushed policy making for a fuel tax and Road User Charge holiday. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
Pick your favourite bit of bad economic news. How about a 10 percent hike in food prices? Read more
On 4 June, The Dominion Post published a lengthy and disturbing article highlighting the woes and dilemmas of earthquake safety regulation in Wellington. It highlighted the arbitrariness of current building standards and decisions. Read more