Reports & Media

World share markets rose markedly on Monday this week: the US S&P 500 (by 2%), London FTSE (by 2.4%), Paris CAC (by 2.9%), Tokyo Nikkei (by 1.4%), and the Hong Kong Hang Seng (by 0.5%). Europe saw the biggest daily gain in 10 weeks, but from the lowest levels for months. Read more

Does watching TV change your life? And in particular, do TV commercials change your consumption habits? Read more

When will we finally get a lasting solution to the Greek problem? Not a stop-gap measure, but one that actually puts the country on a sustainable path towards recovery? Read more

In 2010, the Ministry of Education introduced new National Standards for primary schools. In September this year, stuff.co.nz published the first data set. Read more

The policy problem of ‘affordable housing’ is all the rage. But aside from a vague sense that housing is too expensive, what does the term actually mean? Read more

The first week of November was Gender Diversity Week, which is a sad reminder that no country has yet achieved gender equality. The Global Gender Gap Report 2012, released in late October, shows New Zealand ranked sixth out of 135 countries, having closed 78% of the gap between men and women. Read more

As the European Union is mobilising hundreds of billions of euros to save the continent’s currency, it would be reassuring to know that it can be trusted with money. After last week’s annual report from the European Court of Auditors, there is little reason for such optimism. Read more

No one should ever compile a cost-benefit analysis of the United States elections. After a campaign that lasted about 18 months (and felt even longer), and having spent an estimated US$6 billion promoting both candidates, nothing has changed. Read more

New Zealand’s second internet cable is once again making headlines, this time courtesy of Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom. German born Dotcom has hatched a plan to resurrect Pacific Fibre and build a second fibre cable to the United States. Read more

When the New Zealand Electoral Commission was asked to review how the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system was operating, the outcome was pre-ordained: the report would extol the virtues of MMP, recommend a reduction in the 5% threshold, and scrap the one seat rule. And so it has come to pass. Read more

A latent state of emergency has become Europe’s new normal. Even professional optimists such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel believe that the euro crisis will be with the continent for at least another five years. Read more

Lesley Longstone, the secretary and chief executive of the Ministry of Education, says New Zealand cannot claim to possess a world-class education system. Strangely, Hekia Parata, Minister of Education said the very opposite just last week. Read more

Even so, New Zealand has its share of proponents of fiscal stimulus in the form of $900 cheques that former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd posted to 75% of working-age Australians in 2009. Australian Treasury Secretary Ken Henry said the stimulus of A$10 billion was all about ‘go hard, go early, go households’. Read more

When political announcements consist of motherhood statements that nobody could possibly disagree with, they often make little sense. Or at least they don’t tell us anything new. Read more