This week brought furore over the thirteen thousand (or so) youths neither in education, employment or training. Employers complained of difficulty finding suitable candidates who can pass a drug test. Read more
Resistance to the social bonds pilot has essentially boxed Labour and the Greens into a corner. Social bonds (or Social Impact Bonds as they are known internationally), after all, have traditionally been introduced by left-wing governments. Read more
Microsoft founder Bill Gates copped a lot of criticism for demanding an income tax for robots. That is unfair. Read more
For every complex problem there is always an easy solution – neat, plausible, and wrong. Or so once quipped HL Mencken, the American journalist, satirist and scholar. Read more
There was a dirt road north of our old farm in Manitoba. Grass grew on the hump between the wheel tracks. Read more
There is not much in this world that people agree on. But one philosophy we at the Initiative hope remains uncontroversial is that improving access to quality education will create a better New Zealand. Read more
Economist and commentator Shamubeel Eaqub recently wrote an impassioned column, urging experts to bridge the communication gap lest the disaster of majoritarian rule ensue. Undercutting his piece was the message that if experts just used smaller words, or spoke slower, disasters like the Global Financial Crisis and Brexit could have been avoided. Read more
You wouldn’t trust an economist to give you a smear test. So is it reasonable to expect those working in health to grasp economics? Read more
Mayors want devolved power to deal with issues facing their communities. If that power comes with responsibility, and accountability, central government should take the request seriously. Read more
As a German living in New Zealand, I have the rare privilege of following not one but two election campaigns this year. Both of them are fought under the obscure MMP electoral system, and both of them are culminating on the same weekend. Read more
Last week The Herald premiered Under the Bridge, a three-part documentary about life in Papakura High School: a low decile school plagued with a reputation for persistent poor performance. Despite increasing government support, the school’s achievement statistics remained among the lowest in the country and its student roll continued to decline as students and teachers lost hope. Read more
You probably shouldn’t tell your boss you are reading this. If the Initiative’s newsletter regularly gets you worked up, agitated or argumentative then you might be better off comforting yourself by looking at cat pictures. Read more
It is more likely for a dog to compile an inventory of sausages than for a politician to build up financial reserves. At least that is how one former German finance minister, the late Franz Josef Strauss, once described the constant temptations for fiscal policy. Read more
We're all going to die. We're not all going to die tomorrow, although these days it feels like the apocalypse is looming, but it will happen to all of us. Read more
I am married to an immigrant. It is not something I often need to confront. Read more