Reports & Media

It is often the case that reports by the Ministry of Economic Development (and now its successor, the rather pretentiously named Ministry for Business, Employment, and Innovation or MBIE) recommend further government interference in economic activities in the name of ‘helping business.' The much-vaunted ‘business growth agenda’ of the government, which few people outside of Wellington have heard of, has suffered from this fate. So it is refreshing to see an interesting and useful report into regional economic development being released by the Ministry. Read more

Some Australian politicians believe sacking the bottom 5% of teachers is the answer to improving student achievement. Last week in Melbourne, I interviewed academics at a number of universities, researchers at the Australian Council of Education Research (ACER), media commentators, and think tank researchers. Read more

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In September last year, I wrote about the German constitutional court’s preliminary ruling on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (Has Germany’s court set the stage for an exit? 20 September 2012). Read more

The economics of the opposition’s plan to introduce a single-buyer model for wholesale electricity is highly dubious, as I explain in my column in The National Business Review today. But that’s not the only questionable thing about it. Read more

As good news continues to emerge about the government’s fiscal position leading into the budget, it is worthwhile reminding ourselves of recent reforms that put New Zealand into an internationally enviable position. Primarily, the government’s response to the global financial crisis was to make it easier to employ people, keep them employed, and keep more of their own money. Read more

How do the world’s best performing education systems attract and develop great teachers? To find out, I am about to embark on a journey overseas. Read more

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Last Saturday, the primary teachers’ union NZEI rallied more than 10,000 supporters all over the country to ‘fight the GERM’ and inoculate against a disease taking the world by storm. GERM stands for the Global Education Reform Movement, a term coined by Pasi Sahlberg, the renowned Finnish expert in international education reform. Read more

Last week, the government proposed changing the way food manufacturers label their products. Manufacturers will no longer be able to make health claims unless backed with scientific evidence. Read more