This week, Massey University Professors James Chapman and Bill Turner released a highly critical report of the Ministry of Education’s strategy for improving children’s literacy. In essence, they argue that the strategy has failed. Read more
Ever since the creation of the Auckland super city, murmurings have surfaced in Wellington about a greater Wellington council to include the Hutt Valley, Wairarapa and Kapiti. Intuitively, large councils seem undesirable; why take local governance further away from locals? Read more
On 25 July, a Dominion Post article (Consent proposals upset rural residents) asserted that, under a proposed district plan, rural landowners might face new requirements if their property includes dominant dune ridge lines, outstanding landscapes, amenity landscapes or ecological and geological sites. Owners in possession of such land may now require a resource consent to work on farm fences, culverts and farm tracks. Read more
When I grew up, nearly every Sunday was spent playing board games with my parents. Unsurprisingly for a future economist, my personal favourite was Monopoly. Read more
Bad ideas have a habit of being spread. The Labour Party’s policy to ban foreigners (except those nice Australians) from buying houses in New Zealand is such an example. Read more
Following the 2011 election, part of the Confidence and Supply agreement between the National Party and the Maori Party was the formation of a Constitutional Advisory Panel (CAP). This panel of the good and the great is tasked with examining New Zealand’s constitutional structure, with an emphasis on the Treaty of Waitangi. Read more
Recently, I met a New Zealander who asked me how I, as a relatively newly arrived foreigner, experienced New Zealand. I returned the question straight back to him. Read more
Two things are an anathema to free-market economists: government intervention and monopolies. And one thing is even worse: When public services are provided by a central government monopolist. Read more
There may not be much growth in Europe at present, but at least European leaders continue to produce an impressive number of growth initiatives. Last week, the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, José Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy, issued a joint letter ahead of the next G20 summit in St Petersburg in early September. Read more
As Australians approach a federal election, asylum seekers and people smugglers are turning out to be a key issue for the fifth time in a row. New Zealanders may look sceptically at this: Why is this captivating the Australian public? Read more
It’s a story teachers often lament: Children bringing behavioural and emotional problems to school, without shoes on their feet or food in their bellies. Research in 2005 estimated that 10% of children in New Zealand go without breakfast. Read more
Throughout most of human history, cities were the dominant force of political affairs. From the very first cities of Mesopotamia in the seventh millennium BC, to Athens and Rome, and the city states of the Middle Ages, cities drove the development of political affairs, of culture, of democracy, of finance, of the arts, of education. Read more
One of the major downsides of the 2008 financial crisis has been the emergence of so called "macro-prudential" regulation. This sort of regulation, hoping to limit systemic risk in the banking sector, is fashionable but signals a return to the 1970s mentality of economic fine-tuning, albeit with different tools. Read more
Last week, I wrote about how the euro crisis had been put on hold until the German federal election (A euro crisis on German ice, July 18). One of the policies affected by this crisis deferral is the European Union’s so-called banking union. Read more
One of the major downsides of the 2008 financial crisis has been the re-emergence of ‘macro-prudential’ regulation. This sort of regulation, hoping to limit systemic risk in the banking sector, is currently fashionable but signals a return to the 1970s mentality of economic fine-tuning, albeit with different tools. Read more