The following article was sent to us by retired English teacher Peter Joyce, who wrote it some 20 years ago for the NZ Education Review. The article illustrates effectively many of the problems that still grip education today. Read more
The United Nations is correct to consider New Zealand's housing crisis as a substantial human rights issue. But while the UN is often excellent at seeing problems, it isn't so good at suggesting appropriate solutions. Read more
New Zealand isn’t the only country pondering if, in today’s world, the most dangerous thing of all is that almost everything is made in China. From low-cost manufactured goods and novel coronaviruses, to university budgets and a fair chunk of New Zealand’s gross domestic product, China is responsible for an outsized slice of the Kiwi pie. Read more
In this week’s New Zealand Initiative podcast, chief editor Nathan Smith is joined by chief economist Eric Crampton who answers a handful of questions about why he chose to become an economist, what keeps him motivated and what titans of the field have inspired him over the years. 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
The government this week extended the COVID-19 (coronavirus) travel ban barring foreign nationals from arriving in New Zealand from mainland China and suggesting self-quarantine for Kiwis returning. The continued ban feels like the right decision for a highly contagious disease with mortality rates that appear to be around twenty times higher than the seasonal flu. Read more
Are you a leader of a political party? Do you spend countless hours fundraising while looking after important portfolios? Read more
Solving New Zealand’s housing crisis is hard. Writing good policy reports is too. Read more
Eric Crampton discusses the importance of free speech following SkyCity's cancellation of Peter Singer's speaking event in June, following reaction from the media and public.
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In a prior academic life, I taught public choice – the economic analysis of political decision-making. During the week of lessons on the economics of bureaucracy, the students went through the consequences of the bureaus holding an information advantage over their ministerial masters. Read more
It is about time Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway investigates one of the more egregious employment rorts out there. An employer – and not an obscure one – pays far less than the minimum wage. Read more
Counting by the number of times the phrases “gig economy” and “future of work” are mentioned by the news media, you could be forgiven for thinking full-time employment was a thing of the past. Yet last year the Productivity Commission reported the so-called gig economy was both small and showed no signs of rapid growth, either in New Zealand or in the 30 other countries for which data was available. Read more
Journalism and opinion are supposed to be clearly separated, but that difference is shrinking – and perhaps disappearing. Objective reporting is like utopia, it cannot really exist. Read more
In this week’s long-form podcast interview, our chief editor Nathan Smith sat down with research fellow Briar Lipson to discuss why New Zealand’s education standards are slipping and how the progressive or “romantic” notions of schooling gained such tight traction in this country. 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
Read our submission, written by Roger Partridge, to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), on Better protections for contractors: Discussion document for public feedback. In this submission we draw upon the research and recommendations from our July 2019 report, Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour. Read more
Depending on your own experience with dating apps, you might be surprised to learn that success in the online dating market is not distributed equally. So, this Valentine’s Day, spare a thought for those struggling to find love among the insidious and “unjust” inequality on apps like Tinder or Bumble. Read more
