Reports & Media

“With a little ingenuity, it is possible to devise methods of charging for the use of the city streets that are capable of adjusting the charge in close conformity with variations in costs and traffic conditions,” wrote William Vickrey, Nobel Laureate and the father of road pricing theory, in 1963. Little did he know that it would take more than 50 years for the technology to catch up to his vision. Read more

Through his review of NCEA, Education Minister Chris Hipkins has demonstrated how successful consultations can be. The six Big Opportunities presented last year by the Ministerial Advisory Group were a mixed bag. Read more

Two years ago The NZ Initiative’s executive director, Oliver Hartwich, and I presented to a full house at the Adam Smith Institute in Westminster. We were in London ahead of a visit to Switzerland with a delegation of New Zealand business leaders. Read more

There are a lot of promising initiatives in the coalition Government's first "Wellbeing" Budget. But delivering on that promise requires closing a currently open loop in the wellbeing policy process. Read more

The saying goes that a camel is like a horse designed by a committee. Of course, the analogy does not actually work to denigrate the work of committees – camels are highly adapted to desert life – but, still, the image of a misshapen horse holds meaning, and relevance to NCEA. Read more

It has been four weeks since the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) delivered to Minister James Shaw its analysis of the government’s 100% renewable electricity policy. If reports from a conference presentation given by the committee’s chair in April are correct, the results are not kind to the government’s commitment. Read more

Once upon a time, the pursuit of happiness was a personal duty. Not anymore. Read more

The Wellbeing Budget came in the government’s proclaimed year of delivery. But whether this budget will deliver the wellbeing outcomes everyone has been led to expect is a bit up in the air. Read more

Ordinary elections are simple. Once the votes are counted and the number of seats in Parliament determined, you know who will govern for the coming years. Read more

New Zealand’s Reserve Bank is creating waves on both sides of the Tasman. Just before Christmas, it surprised the banking sector with proposals to almost double banks’ capital ratios. Read more

Judging by the reactions of the twittersphere, something evil must have happened in Australia last Saturday. “I’m scared. Read more

Earlier this year, I got myself a new smartphone. Its 7-nanometre processor is lightning fast, the triple camera takes stunning pictures, and the huge battery is still half full at the end of a working day. Read more

Last week, a group of 17 countries along with leading social media platforms signed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch Call “to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online”. The non-binding three-page document is inspiringly pragmatic, combining aspirational actions without falling for heavy-handed (and misguided) regulations. Read more