NCEA completion rates have been increasing, with more children than ever earning an NCEA diploma, but New Zealand’s performance on international benchmarks in numeracy and literacy has been flat or declining. Co-author Eric Crampton discusses on Radio Ngati Porou our new report Score! Read more
Wellington (12 March 2018): At the same time as NCEA completion rates have been increasing, with more children than ever earning an NCEA diploma, New Zealand’s performance on international benchmarks in numeracy and literacy has been flat or declining. Solving the puzzle requires knowing more about real student achievement. Read more
If there is one lesson from our species’ past, it is that we are not very good at thinking about the future. This is irrespective of our personal inclination toward optimism or pessimism. Read more
Mike Hosking interviews Hon Peter Costello AC, our keynote speaker for the Retreat dinner on Thursday 8 March. They discuss the state of Australian politics, the relation between New Zealand and Australia and the keys to economic success for a country. Read more
Research Fellow Briar Lipson discusses on TVNZ's Breakfast our new education report, Spoiled by Choice: How NCEA hampers education, and what it needs to succeed. The report analyses the history and evolution of NCEA; and its impact on students, teachers and end-users. Read more
Kathryn Ryan speaks with Briar Lipson about her new education report, Spoiled by Choice. The report is calling for a reform of NCEA because it is failing too many students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Read more
Wellington (4 March 2018): The New Zealand Initiative’s newest report Spoiled by Choice analyses the history and evolution of NCEA; and its impact on students, teachers and end-users. 15 years of sustained decline in our students’ performance in PISA assessments testifies to NCEA’s negative unintended consequences. Read more
“NCEA might be good for students’ self-esteem, but it is failing too many - particularly disadvantaged - students and needs to be reformed,” says our new report Spoiled by Choice. The report is one of the headlines of the news bulletins on Newstalk ZB. Read more
37 Documents released under the OIA reveal a Ministry of Health deeply skeptical about sugar taxes. The internal advice within the Ministry highlighted the same problems with sugar taxes as we mentioned in our 2016 report The Health of the State. Read more
Wellington (1 March 2018): Documents released under the Official Information Act reveal a Ministry of Health deeply sceptical about sugar taxes. In October 2017, the Initiative requested all advice provided by the Ministry to then Minister Jonathan Coleman regarding sugar taxes, as well as internal briefing documents and correspondence. Read more
The Government's flagship policy to deliver low-cost homes to first time buyers could be a fail on the affordability front, according to its own ministry officials. Documents released under the Official Information Act reveal KiwiBuild apartments and houses to be priced up to $600,000 in Auckland could still be well out of reach of their target market. Read more
Wellington (23 February 2018): The New Zealand Initiative welcomes the government’s willingness to make necessary changes at the Earthquake Commission. Today, Chair of the EQC Board, Sir Maarten Wevers, announced his resignation. Read more
Celine Dion's two Auckland shows have sold out, thanks to ticket scalpers. General release tickets went on sale midday Monday and sold out hours later, with tickets appearing on resale sites immediately at double the price. Read more
Wellington (2 February 2018): A review of sugar taxes commissioned from NZIER by the Ministry of Health, released this week under the Official Information Act, finds that sugar taxes are unlikely to improve health outcomes. The report finds that: “No study based on actual experience with sugar taxes has identified an impact on health outcomes.” “Studies using sound methods report reductions in [sugar] intake that are likely too small to generate health benefits and could easily be cancelled out by substitution of other sources of sugar or calories.” Earlier studies significantly overestimate the effect of sugar taxes on sugar consumption due to “fundamental methodological flaws,” and these estimates have contaminated later modelling trying to assess the health benefits of sugar taxes. Read more