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
The Covid-19 crisis has quickly evolved from a health issue into an economic threat. The science was largely clear about what should be done to combat a pandemic, although historians will be the judge of those decisions, but there are plenty of competing ideas now about how to protect the economy after a pandemic. Read more
To prepare for the next pandemic, New Zealand has plenty to learn. But only a handful of developed countries might offer some key lessons, since most nations have been hit hard by Covid-19. Read more
As the country looks for ways to recover from the Covid-19 recession, the government is tweaking a few rules to help it along. One of its actions was to amend the Overseas Investment Act, or OIA. Read more
As the Covid-19 crisis evolves towards something like a conclusion, a handful of East Asian countries have been standout examples of how to deal with a pandemic. Taiwan is one of those countries. Read more
The world has had mixed success containing Covid-19 with Singapore as a standout example during the early phases of the pandemic. Our Research Assistant Leonard Hong talks to chief editor Nathan Smith about Singapore’s approach and shares the lessons for New Zealand. Read more
Our chief editor Nathan Smith is joined by chief economist Dr Eric Crampton and senior fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson. In this week’s podcast, they discuss whether the Government’s Covid-19 cost-benefit analysis and subsequent lockdown is economically sound. Read more
The Government’s response to the global coronavirus pandemic is expected to lead to a deep recession. Many companies are faced with laying off employees. Read more
In this week’s episode of the New Zealand Initiative podcast, chief editor Nathan Smith sits down with Bella d’Abrera to discuss the ideas behind the international progressive movement. Dr d'Abrera is the Director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Programme at the Institute of Public Affairs in Melbourne. Read more
Welcome to this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast with chief editor Nathan Smith. Policy analyst Joel Hernandez joins the stream to discuss the latest developments with his school performance tool. Read more
On this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, chief editor Nathan Smith speaks to career public servant David Law who is one of the newest policy researchers at the Initiative. He returns to New Zealand from spending a handful of years at the OECD in Paris, but before that David worked at the Commerce Commission, the Electricity Authority and the Treasury. Read more
In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast with host and chief editor Nathan Smith, executive director Oliver Hartwich teases out his impressive history of policy work, why he chose to come to New Zealand and also unpacks why some of his most passionate policy points could help boost this country in a better direction. If you would like to listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more