Reports & Media

Chris Bishop asked an excellent question during last week’s Select Committee hearings into the government’s proposed Natural and Built Environment Act. “Where does local democracy stop and the legitimate …national interest kick in?” The question cuts to the heart of one of the debates around resource management reform. Read more

The December 2022 inflation figures are out, and the news is not particularly good. While most bank economists expected annual inflation to fall in Q4, it remained at 7.2%, so inflation has plateaued rather than decreased. Read more

Peaches come from a can. They were put there by a man. Read more

The UK Financial Times opined in late December that the biggest casualty of 2022 was the reputation of big central banks. Central banks failed to forecast the rise in inflation caused by easy money. Read more

Considering Chris Hipkins’ reputation as a policy wonk, this week’s ‘bonfire of policies’ is quite remarkable. Commentators have interpreted the Prime Minister’s clean-up as a dumping of unpopular policies ahead of the election. Read more

It’s no secret that New Zealand’s compulsory education system is in disarray. Even worse, it’s hard to know where to begin to enact reform. Read more

It is hard enough to understand the Germans in the best of times. Yet, in these times of crisis and war, even a native speaker may find it difficult to comprehend them. Read more

When the government says reducing living costs is its highest priority, it seems a bit crazy to impose punitive anti-dumping duties on imports. And yet, here we are. Read more

A logical fallacy is an invalid element in an argument. There are many kinds of fallacies. Read more

How seriously does our Reserve Bank take monetary policy? There should be no doubt that it takes it very seriously indeed. Read more

For all those who were hoping that the state would finally get tough on hate, the government’s dialling down of its ambitious hate speech reforms must have come as a crushing disappointment. All is not lost, though. Read more

At 11:59pm on Sunday, submissions close on Environment Minister David Parker’s Natural and Built Environment Bill. One minute to midnight on the Sunday of Waitangi weekend is a strange deadline for submissions on a once-in-a-generation proposal to reform the Resource Management Act. Read more