It is a fine line between commemorating and glorifying wars. The centenary of World War I is a good opportunity to reflect what this war, and other wars, mean to us today. Read more
A few weeks ago, while browsing pianos on TradeMe, I came across a Kawai upright with bids having just passed the reserve price of $4,000. An interested buyer had posted a public question to the seller offering to ‘buy now’ for $1,500, stating they ‘really wanted’ the piano but ‘couldn’t afford’ the minimum $4,000. Read more
Alain Bertaud, former World Bank Senior Urban Planner speaks on "Mobility and affordability: cities seen as labor markets" Read more
The Next Generation Debates Semi-final saw Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Canterbury debate the moot: "Should New Zealand tie MPs' and Ministers' salaries to a multiple of the average national income?" Read more
The Next Generation Debates Semi-Final saw the University of Auckland and the University of Otago debate the moot "Progressive tax rates are unfair" Read more
It would have been a stretch for us to relate X-rays or Xylophones to economics. Lucky for the ABCs of economic literacy, Harvey Liebenstein prefixed the word inefficiency with a big X when proposing the concept of X-efficiency in the 1960s. Read more
Dear New Zealand, We need to talk about racism. Because if the term continues to be misused, it will cease to have any proper meaning. Read more
Economics starts with the assumption that incentives explain the choices of individuals. But would a carrot and stick approach work in parliament, an institution not always prone to making rational choices? Read more
A two-page feature in the Sunday Star-Times (Aug 3) says Labour’s promise to introduce a capital gains tax and raise the top rate of income tax has put “equality” back at the heart of economic and political debate. The only concept of equality the article considers is one where the ideal is that everyone gets the same income regardless of how hard or productively they work. Read more
Roughly coinciding with the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, anti-capitalism has enjoyed a global renaissance. The critics of capitalism may be quite diverse, but for many of them rising wealth and income inequality is a commonly shared concern. Read more
Recently, Transportblog.co.nz bemoaned the fact that Auckland CBD was running out of office space.The pro-transit and compact city advocacy group is concerned because central government is insisting that certain rail usage and CBD employment targets be met before it co-funds the $2.9 billion City Rail Project. These targets include the doubling of rail patronage to 20 million trips a year, and lifting the number of people employed in the CBD by 25 per cent (or 22,000 jobs) if the city wants the project to start in 2020. Read more
The biographies of top economists indicate that they were often motivated to study economics in order to be better able to contribute to the common good. But what is meant by the common good and what policies contribute to it? Read more
Last week some Aucklanders in the double grammar school zone (Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls’) were upset to see that One Tree College and Selwyn College were looking at including them in their school zones too. They fear this may lead to Auckland Grammar and Epsom Girls’ shrinking their school zones, excluding their children from entry to these sought-after schools. Read more
What is the raison d’etre of a city? Is it to provide parks and cafes, theatres and libraries? Read more
Two years ago, three words by the European Central Bank’s President Mario Draghi ended the panic around the euro crisis: “Whatever it takes”. When Draghi said these words at an event in London -- meaning that his institution was prepared to use unconventional (and potentially unlimited) ways to stabilise the euro system -- it halted the escalating crisis. Read more