Prime Minister John Key wants to change a constitutional settlement that has lasted 173 years. He proposes to extend parliamentary terms to four years, with a fixed election date at the end. Read more
When it comes to parliamentary term lengths and etiquette, my colleague and boss Dr Oliver Hartwich is sadly misguided. The arguments for four- (or five-) year fixed parliamentary term can be summed up as stability, predictability and giving government time to implement its agenda. Read more
When I landed on home soil in New Zealand two weeks ago having spent the past six months in Japan, I got on the wrong end of the bus by boarding through the back door and forgot to pay my bus fare. In Japan, you pay at the end. Read more
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Talk about the looming global currency war obscures an unpleasant reality: monetary policy remains the West’s only weapon to prevent imminent insolvency. Unfortunately, the medicine may kill the patient, rather than the disease. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative will be hosting one of Germany’s top economists on 13 February to talk about the lessons from bad policy making. Germany is Europe’s model economy. Read more
Germany is Europe’s model economy. It is a prosperous, well-governed, and efficient country. Read more
As the New Zealand dollar reached an all-time high against the British pound and keeps rising against the US dollar, the euro and other major currencies, New Zealand manufacturers are renewing their complaints about the damaging effects of our strong currency. However, currency movements usually produce losers and winners. Read more
As we hear the litany of doom and gloom about manufacturing in New Zealand, it would be easy to assume that manufacturing is in crisis; that everyone is shutting down, packing up and leaving; and that no new jobs are being created or industries expanded. However, this week there was a positive story in this space – the Chinese-owned Yashili Dairy Company has announced two substantial investments in New Zealand, pending approval from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). Read more
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For decades, following German real estate prices was like watching paint dry. Well, actually it was even less exciting than that. Read more
Here’s a radical idea: Let’s think of houses as places where people live. Housing affordability is the big political issue of 2013. Read more
Broken windows and Warrant of Fitness (WoF) checks have more in common than first meets the eye. And no, we’re not talking about cracked windscreens. Read more
This week, the Dominion Post ran an article under the rather optimistic headline, ‘Fulltime work lined up to keep prisoners happy’. It quoted Prime Minister John Key talking about a “working prisons” proposal designed to get prisoners working full-time in the prison system. Read more