If you have not noticed it yet, 2013 is the International Year of Statistics. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Statistics New Zealand invited me to speak at a breakfast event on the trustworthiness of statistics. Read more
The weekend after the Australian federal election, on September 22, Germany will go to the polls. Speculation about the potential outcome lacks any excitement value. Read more
If someone asked you how much of New Zealand was built upon, what would your guess be? 5% or 10%? Read more
I was told the story of a teacher in Ontario who reluctantly participated in a project to improve her students’ learning. After several months she found that “her students performed better than she had even expected herself.” When she told her story, she wept. Read more
Privatisation provides an interesting case study for free-marketeers. Almost everyone is opposed to the notion, yet those same people often buy the stock. Read more
It’s another week in the never-ending euro crisis. There is talk about the need for another Greek haircut before the end of the year. Read more
Priced Out – How New Zealand Lost its Housing Affordability looks at long-term trends in housing regulation and social circumstances as well as the changing roles of local and central governments. The report reveals how and why New Zealand is suffering a shortfall of houses. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative is launching the first in a series of reports on housing affordability, co-authored by former local government minister Hon Dr Michael Bassett and Luke Malpass. Priced Out – How New Zealand Lost Its Housing Affordability looks at long-term trends in housing regulation and social circumstances as well as the changing roles of local and central governments. Read more
When the financial crisis started about six years ago, the global policy response was a mixture of monetary and fiscal stimulus. Governments increased spending and hoped for multiplier effects. Read more
There are many facets to New Zealand’s housing affordability conundrum, but the bottom line is there is a shortage of houses, and there is a shortage of new houses (dwellings) being built. Supply is not meeting demand as in other markets and prices are absorbing the difference. Read more
The week when I was due to meet Michael Gove, The week when I was due to meet Michael Gove, England’s controversial Secretary of State for Education, New Zealand’s own Minister of Education, Hekia Parata, released a damning review of the New Zealand Teachers Council (NZTC) alongside a proposal to reform it into a more professional body. This was timely. Read more
At least in principle, there is widespread agreement that New Zealand should aim to increase its exports – whether you subscribe to the government’s target of 40 percent of GDP by 2025 or not. There is less agreement on how such an exports boost could be realistically achieved and which sectors are most likely to drive it. Read more
What is a reasonable price for a home? This is the question around which much debate over housing has evolved. Read more
Last Wednesday, the European Commission released a set of economic policy recommendations in its very own style. Written in the usual diplomatic and legal prose of utmost transparency, and available in all the European Union’s official languages, it told each individual member state which reforms needed to be tackled if Europe ever wanted to return to growth and full employment. Read more