Reports & Media

One of the principal arguments put forward for the development of Auckland into an international-sized city is that urban economies of scale generate better outcomes. This is called an agglomeration benefit, or rather the economic advantage that firms and people get from being situated closer to markets, suppliers and places of work. Read more

The first management book I ever read, back in the late 1980s, was the sequel to In Search of Excellence, the book that established Tom Peters as the world’s leading management guru. A friend had given it to me. Read more

In Greek mythology the Hydra was a deadly water serpent with multiple heads. For each head that was cut off, two others sprang out to replace it. Read more

The Prime Minister visited Europe this week. After meetings with European Union leaders, John Key announced that – finally – a free trade deal between New Zealand and the EU was on the table. Read more

According to recent research, the new poor are not actually poor at all. Well, at least not as we know it. Read more

As George W. Bush allegedly once said, “the problem with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.” That may not be entirely correct as the French may be short of business sense but certainly not of words. Read more

The good news about New Zealand's economy just keeps on coming. Business confidence is at a record high, employment is increasing, as are wages. Read more

Economists can agree about many things. The importance of tradable property rights in scarce fresh water is a case in point. Read more

Recently at the Initiative’s annual retreat dinner, management guru Tom Peters gave a resounding presentation on the importance of investing in people, first and foremost. Education, he argued, must be the number one priority. Read more

It is election year and political opponents will soon take the gloves off to cast the usual aspersions on each other based on which side of the political spectrum they sit on. Right-leaning politicians are likely to be cast as devotees of Wall Street arch-villain Gordon Gekko and his “greed is good” ethos, the left drafted into the poor-and-jealous brigade, and more environmentally minded parties cast as caring more about trees than people. Read more

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius’s sage advice to his son about friendship was: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be For loan oft loses both itself and friend. In contrast, borrowing and lending between complete strangers makes the world a better place. Read more

Given the troubles of Europe’s welfare states, it is hard to deny that large public sectors have a negative impact on economic growth. Where government grows too big it crowds out private activity, redirects resources from productive to unproductive uses, and stifles the economy with extra regulation and bureaucracy. Read more

Fiscal surpluses are in sight, export prices are extraordinarily high relative to import prices, national income growth prospects look brighter than for many years, and this is a general election year. This sets the stage for unsustainable increases in government spending - or for tax cuts or some combination of the two. Read more

Read more