REPORTS

For most of history, only the wealthiest in society had the time and resources to pursue disciplinary knowledge. For everyone else, knowledge beyond daily experience was an unaffordable luxury. Nowadays, through the spread of literacy, everyone can explore knowledge of the world beyond their confines. Read more

New Zealand could be a leader in global emissions reduction. We could lower global emissions by far more than we contribute. We could achieve net zero emissions sooner than 2050. We must simply be prepared to do what works by partnering with or funding the best sources of emissions reduction and removals wherever they are in the world. That might be re-planting the Amazon, capturing carbon in British Colombia, building solar farms in outback Australia, or planting trees in Northland. Read more

New Zealand needs a land transport system that is fit for purpose: a wide range of options that are safe, reliable, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective. But the current transport environment falls far short. We need to, and we can, do better. Read more

Yesterday, the government announced that New Zealand’s decile-based school funding system would be replaced, from 2021, by a funding formula tied to student risk factors. It noted that parents too often conflate a school’s decile rank with its quality. Read more

School evaluation is an essential component of the education system. Identifying high-performing and underperforming schools is vital for building an evidence base for what works to improve education outcomes for students. However, the task of evaluating schools objectively and without bias is extremely complicated. Read more

The opportunities of industry-based qualifications are highly underestimated in New Zealand. It is therefore laudable that earlier this month, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins proposed reforms to the vocational sector that include industry-based education. Read more

New Zealand’s way of regulating nightlife often restricts the opportunities for night owls. This has made nights overly tedious without improving issues of public health and security. Read more

With its rate cut on 7 August 2019, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised markets and sent a strong signal that unorthodox or unconventional monetary policy could be on the cards. Read more

The Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) has delivered a landmark report, according to our new policy paper, When the facts change: How the ICCC saved New Zealand from a policy disaster. Read more

The government’s goal of a highly skilled and innovative workforce and an economy that delivers well-paid, decent jobs and broad-based gains from economic growth and productivity, is a laudable aim. Read more

As teachers prepare to leave the classroom on strike, The New Zealand Initiative proposes a potential solution to the seemingly impossible impasse. Dr Eric Crampton argues in his Policy Point Biting education bullets that Minister Hipkins is in a thoroughly unenviable position. He says providing a pay increase sufficient to attract and retain the best teachers would blow out the budget if offered to all 60,000 existing teachers. Read more

New Zealand deserves far better water management. Scores of newspaper articles and rigorous reports lay out the problems in the current system. Too much water is being drawn in some catchments, to the detriment of aquifers and rivers. Management of contaminants flowing into the rivers is haphazard and too-often poor. While agricultural runoff into rivers and streams has drawn much attention, urban areas are far from blameless. Read more

A comprehensive and year-long econometric analysis of data for 400,000 students undertaken by The New Zealand Initiative reveals there are no significant differences in school performance between schools of different deciles. Adjusted for the different student populations they serve, the vast majority of New Zealand’s secondary schools create the education outcomes we would expect from them. This finding calls into question the assertion of the Tomorrow’s Schools Independent Taskforce, led by Bali Haque, which claimed that “quality of our schools... Read more

The coalition government has committed New Zealand to a goal of generating 100% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2035.Renewables already account for 83% of our electricity, and on current trends will generate up to 97% of our electricity in 2035 without any help from policy changes.However, as Matt Burgess shows in this report, the last 3% through to 100% renewables share will be tremendously expensive, and could raise greenhouse gas emissions.New Zealand’s electricity is secure, affordable and among... Read more

The New Zealand Initiative aims to create a country that brings opportunity, prosperity and happiness to all its people. It is an overarching goal that is not left, right or centre. It is a vision all New Zealanders can unite behind. Read more