Few countries run as much on informal relationships as New Zealand. It is both due to our small size and our aversion to hierarchies. Read more
Loyal readers of the Initiative’s work will know there are more than a few problems with New Zealand’s secondary school qualification. As Briar Lipson’s report released earlier this month showed, the system makes it rather too easy for students to be directed through ‘safe’ pathways to qualifications of little quality. Read more
Perhaps it is a product of New Zealand’s geographic isolation, which creates concern not to be left behind. But since moving here from England my education hogwash-o-meter has been reading unusually high. Read more
“I know an old lady who swallowed a fly” is a nonsensical story that has delighted children for decades. Its tale of an old woman, who swallowed increasingly large animals, each to catch the previous one, is as humorous as it is absurd. Read more
There is no shortage of opinion pieces or expert commentary making the case that Kiwis are financially illiterate. Apparently we’re not good with savings, we don’t plan for the future, and we do not take even simple actions (like switching out of our default KiwiSaver funds) to optimise our future financial security. Read more
US President Donald Trump’s new protectionism is populist, wrong and dangerous. Sadly, that does not mean that his loudest opponents can automatically claim the moral high ground. Read more
When concerned parents ask me why kids all seem to pass NCEA with little or no effort, I sometimes use the subprime mortgage crisis as an analogy. This is how it goes. Read more
An Auckland apartment complex has just taken advantage of the new Unitary plan and opened without any carparks. The developers point out the proximity of public transport. Read more
If you wanted to know how well New Zealand’s education system and Kiwi students were doing, you really wouldn’t want to start with NCEA data. Getting a comparative assessment of students’ strengths was never the point of NCEA. Read more
To begin with, sugar taxes are offensive. They presume that some government official knows better than you about what food choices are best for you. Read more
Policy analysis is like a lot of other project work. It can be good, it can be fast, and it can be cheap – but it cannot be all three. Read more
In last week’s Insights, Oliver Hartwich argued that ACT can learn little from Germany’s FDP. As ACT’s Leader, I am grateful for the right to reply. Read more
Sir Michael Cullen wants to use the tax system to help us all behave better. We have a few ideas to help build upon this noble pursuit. Read more
Parliament deserves better advice about the policies it is being asked to consider. Imagine that you and your partner agreed that you would buy a house together after the wedding – and you both had your eyes on a particular property. Read more
The excitement around the new Labour-NZ First-Green Government and National’s leadership change makes it easy to forget there is a fifth party in Parliament, too. But at last we learnt earlier this week how ACT wants to revive its fortunes. Read more