New Zealand may never have a better chance of drawing top talent away from America. This week's changes to skilled migrant requirements will help but not as much as they should. Read more
Much ink has been spilled recently over Auckland Council’s decision to try recover tourism promotion costs from inner-city accommodation providers using a targeted rate. Judging by the temperature of the rhetoric, that ink is boiling hot. Read more
Among transport engineers, the consensus is roundabouts are preferable to crossroads. They reduce crash risks, improve traffic flow and are less expensive to maintain than traffic lights. Read more
Sir Douglas Myers, well known and respected for his business and philanthropic interests and recognised as such, died this last week at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer. Sir Douglas was also known for his lifelong passion for fishing. Read more
You may be in a spot of trouble if you ever really wind up having to kill two birds with the throw of one stone. It is a tricky shot to pull off. Read more
George W Bush’s most famous quote is the one he got so fantastically wrong. Repeating an old Tennessee saying, he meant to say “fool me once, shame on you. Read more
When it comes to fisheries, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has been in the news for the wrong reasons. Over the past year, the public has learned both MPI and its predecessor have failed to cope with problems of misreporting and illegal discarding of commercial catches. Read more
There are election campaigns, there are weird election campaigns, and there are New Zealand election campaigns. I arrived in this beautiful country five years ago, having previously lived in Germany, the UK and Australia. Read more
What do you think is more harmful: Smoking a cigarette and inhaling the hundreds of toxic chemical by-products? Or inhaling a nicotine vapour without them? Read more
Two months ago, the world witnessed something of a horror, well, at least in my mind: The moment the Donald Trump became the new leader of the free world. When I contemplate on the moments before and after that day, I can’t help but think of Shakespeare’s quip: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”. Read more
Sometimes it is possible to want something too much. It can cloud your judgment and lead to decisions you will later regret. Read more
A few years ago, British schools got worried about their bad students. Not so much about the fact they were not learning enough. Read more
Last week a joint Labour/Green statement proposed a fiscal agency to keep a Labour/Green coalition government honest. Now where would they get a crazy idea like that? Read more
Economist Alex Tabarrok says prices are a signal wrapped in an incentive. Prices tell us about relative scarcity and provide an incentive to conserve on scarce things. Read more
Water, water, everywhere – or so it has seemed. In the past few weeks we have had a deluge of controversies over water. Read more