John Ryan (former Auditor-General) has raised concerns about the transparency of the Government's Covid response fund. He says MPs and the general public haven't been getting enough information about how the $74 billion fund is being spent. Read more
Like Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen, Elon Musk is fond of impossible things. And not content with simply believing them, Musk likes actually to get them done. Read more
Last week, Inland Revenue Minister David Parker gave a speech titled “shining the light on unfairness in the tax system”. His speech defended an Inland Revenue investigation into the “tax paid by the wealthiest New Zealanders relative to their economic income”. Read more
Successful economies have low unemployment. However, these are no ordinary times, and New Zealand’s ultra-low unemployment rate of 3.2% should worry everyone. Read more
American businessman Bert Lance is credited with popularising the phrase, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Lee served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter. He would have scratched his head at Labour back-bencher Duncan Webb’s Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill. Read more
The Initiative normally focuses on national-level policy. However, we are based in Wellington. Read more
Let’s start with a quiz. Over the past 12 months, which of these currencies performed the worst against the US dollar: the Zimbabwe dollar, the Russian Rouble, or the Euro? Read more
The government’s Te Hurihanganui sketches a radically different version of education in New Zealand. But what is it based on? Read more
Reading through Wellington council’s draft economic wellbeing strategy isn’t great for an economist’s mental wellbeing. Our capital city faces a lot of challenges. Read more
A week is not just a long time in politics. It is a long time for democracy. Read more
Several large companies recently received hefty government handouts to install new boilers and heaters. This was all under the guise of decarbonisation, using money earmarked for the country’s Covid recovery. Read more
Revolutionary economic policies used to be reserved for centre-right politicians. The Zeitgeist was best expressed by Ronald Reagan: “We've gone astray from first principles. Read more
If only the Government’s public relations staff were as good as Lotto New Zealand’s. Twice each week, Lotto asks us to imagine those millions of dollars coming our way in the Powerball draw. Read more
Putin’s influence has helped the rise of Marine Le Pen. But his political vehicles are not limited to the Far Right. Read more
Wellington is a confusing place. In 2017, the Government wanted to plant One Billion Trees and set a lot of costly policies to achieve it. Read more