Lost in the government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee this week was the decision to put on ice its 100% renewable electricity policy to focus on other more effective measures. It is hard to overstate the significance of this decision. 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
There was a line of ’80s and ’90s motivational posters, often involving pictures of cats, with quips that might help improve spirits around the workplace. One of those, from memory, read something like, “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!” Other variants read, “You don’t have to be crazy to work here; we will train you.” None of them would pass modern sensitivity standards, and they were never really motivational or funny in the first place. Read more
New Zealand performs strongly in a number of international rankings, and not so well in others, as well covered by this publication. So when a delegation of Kiwi business leaders recently went to Denmark to see how a small country was a world leader – economically and socially – we were struck by what made the Danes so successful. Read more
Maybe things would be different if somebody had 'invented' prices. We tend not to understand and appreciate institutions, like prices, that emerge spontaneously through human interaction rather than are the product of human design. Read more
A fair pay agreement sounds like something everyone should want. After all, no one wants to work for unfair pay. Read more
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger burst back into public life in mid-2018 to lead the government’s Fair Pay Agreement Working Group. The working group’s report was made public on 31 January. Read more
Can local community growth pay for itself? In other words, can economic growth itself pay for the community’s required infrastructure expansion (e.g. Read more
Parables, biblical or otherwise, are excellent instruction. They warn of the dangers of getting what you wish for. Read more
Three unanswered questions hang over the Reserve Bank capital proposals. First, do the benefits of the proposals exceed the costs? Read more
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger came charging back into public sight when the Government released his Fair Pay Agreement Working Group's report in January. The Bolger-led working group recommended the Government introduce a new system for setting wages and other terms and conditions of employment. Read more
Many New Zealanders are living longer and healthier lives than at any point in history. In the last quarter century, health outcomes in New Zealand have improved across the board. Read more
We cannot vouch for the authenticity of the following conversation that mysteriously arrived in my Inbox. The sender’s name was Dante, surely a fake. Read more
Joel Hernandez and I have been lucky to be spending the past few days at the 60th Annual Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists. The meetings are always a great way of keeping abreast of what other economists around the traps are working on. Read more
The Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development’s latest economic survey of New Zealand was published last week. I always read these surveys with a somewhat jaundiced eye. Read more