Vocational education has never had a good reputation in New Zealand. It has long been seen as a second-best option for ‘struggling students.’ University is the destination of choice for ‘good’ students, even if they have no idea what they want to do there. Read more
Three weeks. That is how long New Zealanders waited to know the outcome of the 2023 election. Read more
In New Zealand economics, numbers have personalities. Two supermarkets are a duopoly. Read more
Imagine that your family spent twice as much as it earned last month. Around the kitchen table the mood would be grim and the bank’s patience likely wearing thin. Read more
On Wednesday morning last week, I was getting ready for my afternoon speech at the Financial Services Council conference in Auckland. Between sessions, I scrolled through X on my phone. Read more
More than half of New Zealanders think the country is going in the wrong direction. Trust in Parliament, the courts and the Reserve Bank has fallen sharply since 2021. Read more
Grades have been inflating at universities across the English-speaking world, including in New Zealand. That was the message of my first two columns in this series. Read more
Once upon a time, “Yes Minister” gave us Sir Humphrey Appleby, scheming, obstructive, magnificently verbose, but above all, competent. He could bury a reform in procedure without breaking a sweat. Read more
Every day, New Zealand workers clock longer hours than their peers in most developed nations yet produce far less value per hour worked. This productivity paradox has haunted our economy for decades, condemning workers to lower wages and longer working days. Read more
Who is responsible for defending liberal democracy when its norms come under attack? Karl Popper, writing as fascist armies swept Europe, understood this was not an abstract question. Read more
The United Nations Environmental Programme’s latest Emissions Gap Report was called “No more hot air … please!” Yesterday, I joined a panel at the Climate Change & Business Conference to talk about New Zealand’s Nationally Determined Contribution – our NDC. Under the Paris Agreement, countries must produce targets for emission reductions, set policies consistent with their targets, and report on their progress. Read more
In November 2023, National, Act, and New Zealand First announced the coalition agreements that formed their government. One item stood out, at least for me. Read more
Tell someone in an Auckland café that the economy is booming and they will laugh. Unemployment in the city is 6.1 per cent. Read more
When housing policy is split among more than six ministers, who is responsible when the affordability crisis drags on year after year? The Minister of Housing? Read more
When Woolworths wanted to build a new supermarket in Christchurch, it took them four years and $3 million just to get permission. Did you know it takes an average of 18 months and costs $1 million to get permission to build a supermarket? Read more