Businesses typically avoid taking a stance on contentious political matters, particularly during election campaigns. That makes this week’s media release from New Zealand’s Foodstuffs North Island quite remarkable. Read more
Housing crisis makes growth all about ‘up-and-out’ not ‘up-or-out’ If you want affordable housing, it isn’t a choice between whether people should be able to build townhouses and apartments downtown or subdivisions at the city’s fringes. Cities need to be able to grow in all directions, guided by where people want to live and the cost of providing infrastructure. Read more
In my last column, I used a puzzling proverb to show that we can’t simultaneously have low inflation and cheap money. Today, I use the equally puzzling comment made by Adrian Orr in the OCR announcement that the government is ‘more of a friend than foe’ to explore the relationship between our government and the Reserve Bank. Read more
When I was a lad in the 1950s, I absorbed from adults the notion that it was shameful to be reduced to applying for a state handout. Self-reliance was virtuous. Read more
Last week Victoria University of Wellington announced that it was looking to cut some 230 to 260 jobs as part of its plan to tackle a $30 million deficit. The news followed an announcement by the University of Otago that it would shed ‘several hundred’ positions in an effort to fill a $60 million dollar hole in its budget. Read more
If there is one constant in New Zealand’s foreign policy, it is its unpredictability. But last week, Defence Minister Andrew Little asserted that New Zealand “knows which side we’re on.” Which was news to us. Read more
For many years, Germany’s Greens had a good run. They kept increasing their share of the vote in elections at the federal and state levels. Read more
Local government often finds itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Councils have limited sources of funding – mainly ratepayers and borrowings – which have practical limits. Read more
After spending an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out whether paying NZ Steel an enormous amount of money to install a new electric furnace made any kind of sense, I have finally come to a conclusion. If the subsidy does make sense, it would indicate severe problems in how industrial allocations have been handled. Read more
The eight days since last Thursday have not been kind to Minister of Finance Grant Robertson’s budget. Initial assessments flattered to deceive. Read more
Spread out over 8, 000 acres (hence ‘the Farm’), Stanford University’s campus is an impressive sight. Palms line the triumphant main drive. Read more
As we get older many of us are a bit forgetful. Keys, glasses, schools and Crown entity subsidiaries. Read more
“There is a lot of ruin in a nation.” It is one of those sayings that is easy to misinterpret. Taking Adam Smith’s famous quote literally, there are so many ways for a country to go wrong. Read more
Last week’s government Budget increased projected government operating spending over the next four years by $8.4 billion while projected revenue fell by $10.7 billion. Projected government borrowing rose by $20 billion. Read more
Let’s imagine a computer game, shall we? It is called ‘Master Lobbyist’, and your job is to play the governments of two countries off against each other. Read more