Reports & Media

In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, the country’s education system keeps slipping in standards and producing students who can barely solve the simplest sums or read basic instructions. But without solid and reliable data on how New Zealand schools are actually faring, it’s hard to make pinpoint effective changes. Read more

In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, a scheduled release of the second quarter GDP statistics revealed the country’s economy dropped 12%, rather than the feared 16%. But coupled with the government’s money printing plans, the true state of the New Zealand economy is tough to judge at this point. Read more

In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, a new report on the state of civics knowledge in New Zealand reveals Kiwis have a bit of work to do before the election next month. Simply put, New Zealanders don’t know how lucky they are that their government works so well even though they don’t know much about it. Read more

In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, the world’s media is closely watching how Sweden’s tackling of the Covid-19 virus plays out. It appears the Nordic country has opted for a herd immunity strategy, as opposed to elimination or containment. Read more

In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, a second lockdown in the country’s largest city continues. The question of what might be happening to businesses as a consequence, however, is hard to answer. Read more

While the Government works to plug the gaps to help achieve its elimination strategy, opposition political party National has released its own high-level policy for border protection. It is light on the details so far, but chief economist Eric Crampton says it sets out a workable framework which is worth adding to the pool of ideas for what to do about the border. Read more

Using a previously-developed analysis tool, a new report by policy analyst Joel Hernandez has tackled the question of whether private schools are worth the high cost. His results? Read more

The Pharmaceutical Management Agency, or Pharmac, was founded in 1993 and over time has mostly achieved its goals to lower the cost of medicines for Kiwis. Dr Bryce Wilkinson’s major new report on the agency – Pharmac: the right prescription? Read more

Most of the country is still reeling from the drastic lockdown response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The major cities are hurting, but it’s not until one travels to rural New Zealand that the simmering economic issues appear. Read more

With the appointment of Judith Collins as leader of the National Party, folk across the political spectrum hope the party is beginning to re-emerge as a genuine counterpoint to the current Labour-led government. New Zealand Initiative director Oliver Hartwich explains why Collins may be what National needs and why the political position of conservatism is so difficult to get excited about in a globalised world. Read more

Pulling New Zealand out of the fiscal hole opened up by Covid-19 will require a lot of new spending, which the government has already announced. But the crisis also offers the country a chance to rethink its expensive retirement schemes like Kiwisaver, the New Zealand Superannuation and the Superannuation Fund. Read more

The concept of modern monetary theory is back. This set of economic ideas has been around for a while but has risen to prominence recently through the work of American economist and adviser to Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, Stephanie Kelton, whose book 'The Deficit Myth' was released in June. Read more

On this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, Kiwis are set to vote in a referendum to legalise cannabis on September 19. It’s a controversial topic for some, but chief economist Dr Eric Crampton says thinking about cannabis from an economic perspective can help clear up many misconceptions and worries. Read more

On this week’s podcast, reports this week show that New Zealand’s quarantine protocols are not as robust as people thought and the question of what to do about protecting the border from fresh Covid-19 cases is now front and centre. Our chief economist Dr Eric Crampton is outlining a gold standard quarantine system which may need to involve the private sector and require a deep rethink from the Government. Read more

In just a few months, Covid-19 travelled from China to more than 200 other countries, has now killed more than 330,000 people, forced organisations and individuals to embrace new practices such as remote working and plenty of tech shifts. The term “frequent flyer” will now be an anachronism and many think the pandemic spelled the death of market economies and globalisation. Read more