Recently Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, in an open letter, pitched Wellington as a solution to those Aucklanders fed up with traffic jams, high house prices, and eye-watering rates increases (so everyone really). She made a compelling case. Read more
Five years ago, Alan Kohler kindly offered me a weekly slot to comment on the European economy. Since then, I have been covering the various aspects of the European debt crisis in more than 200 Business Spectator columns. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich on Newstalk ZB with Leighton Smith on Europe. Read more
Australia National University’s Dr. George Barker suggested that New Zealand could do well by strengthening its copyright legislation. He warned against the fair dealing exceptions that have crept into the law and asked, “Why not have copyright law like property law—i.e. Read more
Over the past years, we have become used to Europe's debt crisis. However, the fiscal problems of countries such as Greece are only the tip of the iceberg. Read more
Wellington (31 August 2015): We have become used to Europe’s debt crisis. However, the problems of countries such as Greece are only symptoms of a much deeper crisis. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich of The New Zealand Initiative discusses his new book, Why Europe Failed. Over the past years, we have become used to Europe's debt crisis. Read more
One of the most commonly held views on cities you will hear is that urban centres need to be carefully designed by town planning regulators in order to be efficient. That is to say, that without trained professionals telling private developers what to build and where, cities will descend into chaos. Read more
Today's Top 10 is a guest post from Oliver Hartwich, the executive director of the New Zealand Initiative. 1) Brazil’s recession In case you have missed it, the world economy is in crisis mode. Read more
The most important norm in economics was set by economist Vilfredo Pareto about a century ago. Put simply, the Pareto Criterion says that anything making at least one person better off, while making nobody else worse off, is desirable. Read more
There are not too many policies that can save and improve lives while saving the government money, but Chris Bishop’s member’s bill providing greater compensation to live organ donors may be one. Late Wednesday evening, Parliament voted that Bishop’s member’s bill should proceed to committee. Read more
It seems every Tom, Dick and Sally has something to say about education, and very seldom do they agree on anything. Even where the various parties do agree at a broad level, such as the quality of teachers being important, there is still huge divergence in the views when it comes to the detail. Read more
If you have a nemesis and want to inflict on them a brutal punishment, put away the thumb screws. Wish instead for them to be reincarnated as a transport planner. Read more
Just when the Europeans thought they had calmed down the euro crisis with their third bailout package for Greece, they are reminded of how fragile their economy still is. For a change, Europe’s new worries do not originate from the continent itself. Read more
Improving compensation for live organ donors is a rare opportunity to save and improve lives, whilst also saving the government money over the longer term. Elizabeth Prasad demonstrates that every kidney transplant provides recipients with longer and better lives, while being much cheaper than dialysis. Read more