Competition is a transformative force and is responsible for shaping everything from biology to the economy. Governments have set up institutional bodies to foster and encourage it. Read more
Finance Minister Bill English can be pleased that his 6th budget is the first in which he is able to deliver a (modest) surplus. That in itself is no small achievement. Read more
20th century German-language novelist, Franz Kafka, said that “every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.” Clearly, the man was not a fan of bureaucracies. In fact, “Kafkaesque” is how we now describe the worst aspects of bureaucracy. Read more
‘The labour market’ refers to all the places where firms look for people to hire, and where workers look for job opportunities. It exists because firms need workers and workers need jobs. Read more
This week the primary teachers’ union NZEI released results from a poll intended to reveal people’s preferences for how public money is spent on education. According to the NZEI, “less than 6 per cent of people think the government’s plan to establish new leadership roles for some principals and teachers is a good use of increased education funding”. Read more
Earlier this week, the Ministry of Social Development announced a new policy to support the Canterbury rebuild and reduce unemployment. The policy, dubbed ‘3k to Christchurch’ is a one-off incentive of $3,000 to beneficiaries outside of Christchurch to relocate and work in the city. Read more
Keynesian Economics owes its name to a problematic economic theory, put forward in the late 1930s by a brilliant but mercurial English economist with a genius for advocacy and rhetoric, Lord John Maynard Keynes. Keynes took so many positions on so many issues during his career that it became accepted wisdom, as Winston Churchill once observed, that if you asked two economists for a view you would get three opinions, two of them from Mr Keynes. Read more
In a couple of weeks’ time, over 413 million European voters in 28 countries will be asked to vote for the European Parliament. Hundreds of parties, divided by political orientation and nationality, are competing for the 751 seats. Read more
MYTH 1: Foreign investment means loss of control Parliament remains the supreme law-making body, inwards foreign investment must comply with New Zealand laws, and foreigners don't get to vote. Land use and business activity is extensively regulated in New Zealand, for overseas and local investors alike. Read more
This week, The New Zealand Initiative releases its third and final report in the foreign direct investment (FDI) series, Open for Business: Removing the barriers to foreign investment. The report focuses on New Zealand's policies towards inwards overseas investment, the centrepiece of which is the Overseas Investment Act 2005 (OIA). Read more
Openness to foreign trade and capital is fundamental to New Zealand's prosperity. If we get both aspects right, New Zealanders can enjoy the best things the world can offer and great job prospects – without emigrating. Read more
This week we published the last in our series of three reports on New Zealand’s external financial links. Our report, Open for business: Removing the barriers to foreign investment, co-authored by the writer and Research Assistant Khyaati Acharya, examines New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Act 2005 and associated regulations. Read more
When Labour announced its so-called “Monetary Policy Upgrade” this week, their finance spokesperson David Parker was aware of what a radical departure from conventional monetary practice it was. When asked whether one of its key proposals, a compulsory variable savings rate (VSR), was in place anywhere else in the world, Parker had to admit that “nowhere currently” was such a scheme practised. Read more
During the last American presidential election, Mitt Romney bragged that he had created around 100,000 jobs. The Obama campaign claimed Romney had actually destroyed jobs. Read more
You may find Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behaviour in the Ukraine crisis objectionable; you may deplore his blatant disregard of international law and condemn his brutal ruthlessness in the pursuit of Russia’s interests. However, one thing Putin’s behaviour is not: irrational. Read more