Two years ago The NZ Initiative’s executive director, Oliver Hartwich, and I presented to a full house at the Adam Smith Institute in Westminster. We were in London ahead of a visit to Switzerland with a delegation of New Zealand business leaders. Read more
There are a lot of promising initiatives in the coalition Government's first "Wellbeing" Budget. But delivering on that promise requires closing a currently open loop in the wellbeing policy process. Read more
The saying goes that a camel is like a horse designed by a committee. Of course, the analogy does not actually work to denigrate the work of committees – camels are highly adapted to desert life – but, still, the image of a misshapen horse holds meaning, and relevance to NCEA. Read more
It has been four weeks since the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) delivered to Minister James Shaw its analysis of the government’s 100% renewable electricity policy. If reports from a conference presentation given by the committee’s chair in April are correct, the results are not kind to the government’s commitment. Read more
Once upon a time, the pursuit of happiness was a personal duty. Not anymore. Read more
The Wellbeing Budget came in the government’s proclaimed year of delivery. But whether this budget will deliver the wellbeing outcomes everyone has been led to expect is a bit up in the air. Read more
Ordinary elections are simple. Once the votes are counted and the number of seats in Parliament determined, you know who will govern for the coming years. Read more
New Zealand’s Reserve Bank is creating waves on both sides of the Tasman. Just before Christmas, it surprised the banking sector with proposals to almost double banks’ capital ratios. Read more
Judging by the reactions of the twittersphere, something evil must have happened in Australia last Saturday. “I’m scared. Read more
Earlier this year, I got myself a new smartphone. Its 7-nanometre processor is lightning fast, the triple camera takes stunning pictures, and the huge battery is still half full at the end of a working day. Read more
Last week, a group of 17 countries along with leading social media platforms signed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch Call “to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online”. The non-binding three-page document is inspiringly pragmatic, combining aspirational actions without falling for heavy-handed (and misguided) regulations. Read more
Being an economist is great. But there is a downside. Read more
Professor Gary Libecap is something of a god in economics. In a prior life, I would tell my undergraduate students about the pantheon of the Econ Gods. Read more
An all-time low official cash rate of 1.5% as of May 8 means borrowing a New Zealand dollar from the Reserve Bank is a step closer to the zero lower bound – with at least one more rate cut expected in the near future. Despite excitement among mortgage owners and business, this is not good news. Read more
This week, we were happy to see the changes to NCEA announced by Education Minister Chris Hipkins. It is encouraging that the Minister’s NCEA Change Package mirrors so many of the recommendations in our 2018 report, Spoiled by Choice: How NCEA hampers education, and what it needs to succeed. Read more