Reports & Media

Read more

Researching the housing market in New Zealand exposes you to a wide variety of ideas and different thinking. And much like Alice in Wonderland, the deeper you go down the rabbit hole, the weirder it appears to get. Read more

This week’s 2012 PISA results should have sent shockwaves down the country. New Zealand slipped from 7th to 13th place in reading, 13th to 23rd in maths, and from 7th to 18th in science in the OECD’s Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), a study of half a million 15-year olds in 65 countries. Read more

Healthy competition is a key driver of efficiency gains. It forces businesses to focus on meeting customer needs better than anyone else. Read more

Measuring the extent to which corruption prevails worldwide is notoriously difficult. However, it is certainly not difficult to understand why corruption can have a hugely detrimental effect on a country’s economic integrity. Read more

Read more

When the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released its last World Investment Report in June this year, it was a sobering read for New Zealand. Though we may be convinced we live in one of the most attractive places in the world, it does not show in our ability to attract foreign capital. Read more

I have been spending this week in Hong Kong as a guest of the Hong Kong government. To be frank, when I received the invitation to visit the Special Administrative Region (that is the name and status after it was handed back from Britain to China in 1997), I was not quite sure why they have such a programme for international visitors (mainly politicians and business people), let alone why I would be chosen to participate in it. Read more

The Parliamentary Health Committee’s major recommendations from its ‘Inquiry into improving child health outcomes and preventing child abuse’ has been applauded for its evidence-based research. However, its recommendations still need some further consideration. Read more

As someone who enjoys the fruits of New Zealand’s cinematic output, it might seem hypocritical to argue against Graeme Tuckett when he suggests we need to lift rebates on overseas film productions. In a Dominion Post editorial, he argues our film industry is struggling to compete with some countries because they offer a rebate of 25 per cent on every dollar spent, while we only offer 15 per cent. Read more

Read more