OPINION

Readers of this column will be only too well aware why the Government’s proposals to return to compulsory, occupation-wide collective bargaining (misleadingly dubbed “Fair Pay Agreements”) will damage New Zealand’s already fragile productivity growth. The evidence is set out in black and white in The New Zealand Initiative’s 2019 report, Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour. Read more

The Government’s so-called clean-car ‘feebate’ scheme has copped a lot of criticism. However, the Government at least deserves credit for its creativity. Read more

There are many ways a Minister can communicate with their Ministry. From an email from an advisor to a quiet word with officials (or sometimes a not so quiet word). Read more

The vehicle feebate scheme announced Sunday might result in more electric vehicles, but it cannot affect net carbon emissions. Transport is covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme’s binding cap on net emissions. Read more

The government’s announcement on Sunday of subsidies for electric vehicles did not make any case that the benefits to the public would plausibly exceed the costs. To fail to demonstrate positive net benefits is to fail to make a public wellbeing case for the measure. Read more

Just as Europe’s economies are emerging from the Covid-19 recession, the next big European crisis is already visible on the horizon. It is just not clear what kind of crisis it will be: another debt crisis, an inflation crisis, or a combination of both. Read more

A movie about the Prime Minister’s response to the Christchurch mosque attacks looks less likely by the day. That is for the best. Read more

To land a top job, having a stand-out CV helps. But that does not justify hallucinating your life’s achievements. Read more

Secondary schools should provide every student with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed after graduation. However, in our latest report, To Graduation and Beyond, we show that this is not always the case. Read more

Only one thing contributes to our emissions targets: lower emissions. On that standard, this week’s report from the Climate Change Commission fails. Read more

The first rule of any emissions reduction plan is that it reduces emissions. Yesterday’s plan from the Climate Change Commission does not pass this test. Read more

Anyone who’s gone through strategic planning reviews at places of business under financial distress knows they’re often a prelude to redundancies. Too often, reviews look to see what might be cut, and what can be made of what is left, rather than building toward new opportunities. Read more

The problem with economics is that it often uses a language that non-economists do not speak. Take "externalities", for example. Read more

In mid-2019, the Reserve Bank signalled it was considering unconventional monetary policy such as quantitative easing (QE), vulgo: money printing. Back then, Eric Crampton, Robert MacCulloch and I wrote a short paper called The Unreserved Bank of New Zealand: Why unorthodox monetary policy needs boundaries. Read more

The New Zealand government’s approach to border management, contrary to popular belief, is not terrified of risk. It is far worse than that. Read more