OPINION

If your main exposure to economics is hearing bank economists talk on morning radio, you might not have the most accurate picture of what economists do. Trying to guess what interest rates might do, or telling stories about the latest moves in the stock market, are not really what economics is about. Read more

“Who will guard the guards themselves?” Plato asked in the Republic in 380BC. More than two millennia later, well-armed regulatory agencies, instead of armies, wield many of the powers of the state. Read more

Andrew Little has drawn a line in the sand. He has condemned the “blowhard” politics of Winston Peters, and has made it clear this election will not be fought on swinging - um - personalities. Read more

What is worse than watching one's parents argue? It is watching parties argue about parenting. Read more

Despite little evidence of impact, Inquiry Learning is at the heart of New Zealand’s curriculum. One of seven values it encourages in students, inquiry also crops up in the titles of 6 of the 25 ‘Effective Pedagogy’ videos on the New Zealand Curriculum website. Read more

Some people fear rising sea levels, asteroids hitting the earth or global pandemics. It is easy to be scared of such threats because one can easily understand them. Read more

To get the disclaimer out of the way, Mainfreight’s founder and chair Bruce Plested is not only a member of the Initiative. Bruce is also someone I admire. Read more

Have you ever wondered why children learn to speak with relative ease, and yet find reading so much harder? This question was answered in the last 30 years by evolutionary psychology. Read more

Politicians are often accused of trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. It isn’t often they try to pull the wool under the public’s feet. Read more

Unless the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) imposes some restrictions on the charter boats operating in the Kaikoura region, the rock lobster fishery could be unsustainable within a couple years, according to local commercial fishers. And they could be right. Read more

We all know two wrongs don’t make a right. But nor does getting something only half right. Read more

On Wednesday evening, Oliver summed up our event à la Casablanca. Thanking our guest speakers, he rightly said ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship’. Read more

I thought that having a UK celebrity chef tell us that our kids are too fat and that anyone against a sugar tax deserves a slap would have gone down as well as a sous vide burger. I was wrong. Read more

The Commerce Commission now has more powers to investigate competition issues in any area where it thinks there might be a problem. In this week’s National Business Review, the Initiative’s Chair, Roger Partridge, argues this was a bad idea. Read more

A report suggesting radical reforms of the way teachers and schools are assessed has been shot down by those working in the sector. The New Zealand Initiative, a market-oriented think tank, says existing measures of "success" are unfair on lower-decile schools, which are often achieving much better results than raw data would suggest. Read more