Is modern feminism missing the point?

At a recently held women’s conference, organisers requested that attendees stop clapping and do ‘feminist jazz hands’ instead...because the applause was triggering some people’s anxiety. In slightly less absurd feminist news, the ‘#BanBossy’ campaign seeks to ban the word ‘bossy’ on the basis that it deters young women from pursuing leadership roles. Read more

Khyaati Acharya
Insights Newsletter
2 April, 2015

Passion, goals and confidence are overrated

According to Dilbert comic creator Scott Adams, in his recent book How to fail at almost everything and still win big: Kind of the story of my life, passion and goals are way overrated. Passion is pointless, he says. Read more

Rose Patterson
Insights Newsletter
2 April, 2015

Limits on government spending needed

Maintaining fiscal discipline is certainly difficult. Resisting the temptation to increase spending, particularly during an economic boom, is something that governments worldwide grapple with. Read more

Khyaati Acharya
03-30-2015
31 March, 2015

Economically Speaking: Public Works Act good, RMA bad

Your property rights count for very little under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), yet they count for a great deal under New Zealand’s Public Works Acts (PWA) that date back to the 19th century. If the government dictates the future use of your land under the PWA ,you are entitled to compensation but not if it does so under the RMA. Read more

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
The National Business Review
27 March, 2015

High kiwi dollar not the kryptonite for NZ exporters many expect

A higher kiwi dollar could boost New Zealand exporters’ productivity, leaving them better off in the long run. Earlier this month the kiwi reached a record high against the euro, trading at a whisker under 70c – the highest level the kiwi has been valued against European currency since its inception. Read more

Dr Oliver Hartwich
The National Business Review
27 March, 2015

We have a lot in common

On Monday the Initiative launched From Red Tape to Green Gold, our second report on the mineral estate in New Zealand and the regulations that constrain it, specifically the Resource Management Act. The report makes three recommendations. Read more

Insights Newsletter
27 March, 2015

Magic, miracle milk, and markets

Harry Potter had a profound influence on my childhood. While I was never one of those kids who expected a letter from Hogwarts on their eleventh birthday, I did enjoy the books immensely. Read more

Insights Newsletter
27 March, 2015
Red Tape cover border

From Red Tape to Green Gold

This is the second and final report in The New Zealand Initiative’s series on the mineral estate and the regulatory landscape that surrounds it. The first report, Poverty of Wealth, examined the situation where rural economies, under pressure from ongoing urbanisation and increased global competition, have largely failed to exploit the mineral wealth at their disposal as a means of stemming this decline. Read more

23 March, 2015

Media release: Central government is the RMA’s weakest link

Wellington (23 March 2015): Central government needs to fulfil its long-neglected Resource Management Act obligations if it wants to boost mining activity and free communities from the stifling regulations that are choking off economic development in the rural regions. That is the main finding of From Red Tape to Green Gold, the second report in a two-part series by public policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative, which examines how regulation has prevented almost any form of mineral development in a country that ranks among the richest in the world on measures of resource endowment. Read more

23 March, 2015

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