While Budget days bring focus to the Government’s spending priorities, there is no budget day for regulation. Regulation never gets the same attention as spending, but it is at least as important. Read more
I thought the point of the Budget lock-up was to give everyone adequate time to process and digest complex information, and ensure no media organisation had an exclusive. Now I’m not so sure. Read more
There are a lot of dumb cases for tax cuts. I’ll try not to make one of those here, but let’s cover those dumb ones off first Today’s dumb case for tax cuts was once a smart case for them – in the 1970s. Read more
A good mythbusting takes on the things we know that aren't so. There's plenty of popular misperception out there in need of it. Read more
Cold hard data will not put breakfast on the table. It will not be a source of comfort and advice when there is no one else to talk to. Read more
When economist Paul Samuelson was challenged to come up with an economic principle that was both true and non-obvious, he cited comparative advantage. That two people, or countries, can be made better off by trading, even if one of them is better at producing everything that they might trade, is hardly intuitive. Read more
Infrastructure financing can be tough for fast-growing councils hitting up against their debt limits. When interest payments, as a fraction of expenditures, are up against the cap, new borrowing for infrastructure has to quickly provide a return that offsets the interest costs. Read more
The football season has begun. Not the FIFA cup, but the political football that is education. Read more
You should never look a gift horse in the mouth. Nor should you publicly bag the gift horse and accuse it of causing misery across the country. Read more
What will Britain look like after Brexit? This is the dominant question in British politics right now. Read more
You already know about Schrödinger’s Cat: the imaginary cat trapped in a box with a device that may, or may not, have already killed the cat. The cat is then simultaneously dead and alive, from the position of someone outside of the box. Read more
The past fortnight has seen more local news stories about scary sea-level rise and earthquake building risks. It seems these days the public is being constantly urged by scientists, engineers and others to take costly action to reduce the potential for loss from natural disasters. Read more
The September election is still a few months away but politicians, pollsters and pundits are already speculating on the outcome. Of course, forecasts are difficult, particularly about the future. Read more
“Too often, past governments have judged success only by what they spent, rather than what difference that spending made to people’s lives. Yet changing lives is the whole point.” Prime Minister Bill English did not shy away from acknowledging past government failures in his pre-Budget speech last week. Read more
The Commerce Commission is nothing if not clever. While it kept everyone busy watching for its rulings on media mergers, it quietly cornered the market on competition policy conferences. Read more