Some would say politics stinks. Others…would say that too. Read more
Anybody even remotely connected with housing, housing research, the building industry – or with the ability to fog a mirror by breathing on it – had to know it was near-impossible for the government to meet its KiwiBuild promises on its 10-year schedule. Our current planning rules, infrastructure financing mechanisms, building materials supply regulations, council incentives, zoning, training of construction workers, rules around letting more construction workers into the country, rules around foreign builders being able to build here, rules around foreign financing of building projects, Resource Management Act processes – all of it made any non-trivial KiwiBuild impossible. Read more
Readers will be familiar with that exasperating feeling of looking for something and not finding it. You know it should be there, but it is missing. Read more
Taxpayer guarantees for bank deposits are a can of worms. There should be a strong presumption against them. Those who chase higher returns should bear the risks themselves. Read more
In a world where we can hardly buy anything without a disclaimer stamped on it, it is surprising that articles about Brexit still come without a health warning. No, Brexit coverage does not contain nuts. Read more
During her tour of Europe last month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wrote a piece in the Financial Times. As it was published behind the London newspaper’s paywall, most New Zealanders probably missed it (though a copy is available on the Beehive’s website). Read more
Tidying guru Marie Kondo advises her followers to hold or hug everyday items and ask yourself: “Does this item spark joy?” So I picked up a plastic bag and clutched it to my chest. I first felt joy, and then an overwhelming grief. Read more
Jake is a 16-year-old student with NCEA level 1 who has just left school. His friends and family tell him “more education is always better; graduates earn more on average than non-graduates”. Read more
The Reserve Bank is an unusual entity. It has a board that is not a board, and a governor who is also a chief executive. Read more
Rather than rising since the 1980s, income inequality in New Zealand rose in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then flattened out. Some of that increase was real, but some of it was complicated – as explained late last year. Read more
Everything has its season. The slow January news period brings Oxfam’s annual condemnation of wealth inequality and calls for redistribution. Read more
KiwiBuild – the government programme to build or deliver 100,000 homes in 10 years – serves no useful public interest purpose and promises to endlessly distract and embarrass the government. That is the signal conclusion of KiwiBuild: Twyford’s Tar Baby, a research note released this week by The New Zealand Initiative. Read more
Being the most recent addition to the New Zealand Initiative research team, I would like to briefly introduce myself. My name is Patrick – also known more commonly in some social interactions as the “Father of Liz” or the “Husband of Julia”. Read more
KiwiBuild – the government programme to deliver 100,000 down-sized homes in 10 years – is a waste of time and money. It serves no useful material public purpose and absorbs time and resources that would be far better devoted to addressing the real problem – housing affordability. Read more
Every January, Oxfam releases a report on global wealth inequality. This year's Oxfam report contrasted the drop in wealth held by the less wealthy half of New Zealand with the rise in wealth enjoyed by the two Kiwis who made it on to Forbes' 2018 list of billionaires. Read more