If you have been living under a rock, you may not have realised there is a war going on in Auckland. There are no guns and bombs involved (at least not yet) but, based on the headlines, the tensions seem to be equivalent to those of a real conflict. Read more
Last week, the Salvation Army released its State of the Nation Report. And, contrary to the usual story, the Salvation Army’s report generally paints a picture of improving outcomes. Read more
Reading the headlines, you might think the world is going to hell in a handcart. Once again there is carnage in global financial markets. Read more
Blaming the thug for punching you is only one way of looking at things. After all, if a thug’s punch flies in the forest and your face is not there to meet it, there really is no problem at all. Read more
Economics provides us with a useful toolbox with which to analyse the world. From Pareto efficiency, to perfect competition and rational irrationality, there is an economic theory that will just about explain anything. Read more
“Will capitalism and globalisation survive the next Global Financial Crisis?” That was the question I put to a panel of international investment strategists at a PortfolioConstruction Forum conference in Sydney this week. To be more accurate, I only passed it on. Read more
The European Union has been in crisis for many years. Simultaneous sovereign debt, banking and monetary crises have tested the European institutions to the limit. Read more
Radio New Zealand question whether the Christchurch earthquake counts as negative productivity. Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Cramption answers their question, from 1"35'. Read more
As a general rule, heated policy debates do not really make for appropriate wedding banter. Regrettably, this was the situation in which this correspondent found herself over Waitangi weekend, stuck in a rather incoherent conversation with a heartily inebriated guest over whether the benefits generated by tertiary education are entirely public. Read more
If copyright changes are the dead rat we have to eat with our otherwise-tasty Trans-Pacific Partnership meal,* it is worth knowing a bit more about that rat. To do that, we have to go back to first principles on copyright and its purpose. Read more
Our Head of Research, Dr Eric Crampton, speaks to the Radio New Zealand team (from 3'30") about how economists measure productivity, and what insights we can gather from firms reporting increased productivity. Read more
If Donald Trump were seeking election in New Zealand, he’d have no need to promise a fence to keep out migrants. Nature has given us our own moat. Read more
I’m really glad I’m a millennial. If I wasn’t, I’d have a pretty hard time understanding exactly what they’re all about. Read more
Admittedly, Europe’s migration crisis is far more interesting and important, but we have to talk about Greece again. Amid all other crises plaguing Europe at the moment, the financial problems engulfing Athens had temporarily slipped off the front pages. Read more
The flagship policy in Labour’s ‘State of the Nation’ speech was the announcement to roll out three years of free tertiary education should Labour get in power at the next election. It is good politics since it will increase the party’s appeal to young people – and probably also to their parents. Read more