The media has largely ignored economics in the last couple of years. The return of inflation, however, has brought economic topics back into people’s minds and into media coverage. Read more
Eric Crampton talks to Bryan Crump, Radio NZ Nights about his favourite economist - Gordon Tulloch.
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New Zealand has been living with the prospect of a return to compulsory, sector-wide collective bargaining for nearly half a decade. Labour campaigned on its so-called ‘Fair Pay Agreement’ policy in 2017. Read more
The strategic implications of Putin’s war against Ukraine keep evolving as the conflict enters its fourth month. As yet another unintended consequence, it has broken the anti-EU axis between Warsaw and Budapest. Read more
In his weekly podcast, Martyn Bradbury discusses the issues of the week with David Seymour, Damien Grant and Oliver Hartwich.
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Tune in to enough climate change events in Wellington, and you’re bound to hear someone claim that nobody living in a city needs an SUV. Leave aside for now that fuel companies must hand in carbon credits through the Emissions Trading Scheme to cover every bit of carbon dioxide coming from tailpipes. Read more
The GFC had many casualties. In New Zealand, one was the former Securities Commission. Read more
Three bits of news from the world of finance and central banking this week: The Reserve Bank increased the cash rate by 50 basis points. A HSBC manager in Britain has been suspended for criticising climate-based financial regulations at a conference. Read more
Fevered with Covid and isolated in a Te Anau motel, I imagined the following interview. Q: Finance Ministers traditionally urge people to be prudent – not to borrow to invest in shares. Read more
Oliver Hartwich and Eric Crampton interview Foodstuffs North Island’s CEO Chris Quin and Independent Director Peter Schuyt about the Commerce Commission’s enquiry into the grocery retail sector. To listen to our latest podcasts, please subscribe to The New Zealand Initiative podcast on iTunes, Spotify or The Podcast App. Read more
In July last year a furore erupted when seven eminent professors from the University of Auckland published a letter in the New Zealand Listener. They wrote to criticise Ministry of Education plans to include mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) in the science curriculum for schools. Read more
Oliver Hartwich talks to Michael Laws, The Platform about housing in New Zealand. He comments on a range of issues including affordability, building costs and the supply of materials, local government, land supply and land zoning, and interest rates. Read more
Monetary policy always had an air of the mystical. The past is filled with fallen sages like Alan Greenspan, inflation-warriors like Paul Volcker and gurus like Milton Friedman. Read more
There were a lot of truly classic episodes of Seinfeld, but among the very best, at least for economists, was “The Bottle Deposit”. And we may be in for a repeat if the Ministry for the Environment has anything to say about it. Read more
The Commerce Commission is losing the respect of the business community and its system of governance needs overhauling, says the New Zealand Initiative think tank in a new report released this morning. To read more click here. Read more