Old fashioned crimes, like car theft and burglary, have certain characteristics that can be annoying for the police. For one thing, laws have to be passed to define them. Read more
At our Health Innovators' Summit, Prof Lester Levy opened the event with a keynote address. Watch his presentation below. Read more
This week the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowered the Official Cash Rate (OCR) from 5.50% to 5.25%. Many market economists predicted this change. Read more
Wellington (Wednesday, 14 August 2024) - Canada’s devolution of health services to First Nations provides a strikingly different way of thinking about localism, according to Dr Eric Crampton, Chief Economist with The New Zealand Initiative. “Canada’s central government has long provided, under treaty, a ‘medicine chest’ of funded services to First Nations peoples. Read more
Canada’s devolution of health services to First Nations provides a strikingly different way of thinking about localism, according to Dr Eric Crampton, Chief Economist with the New Zealand Initiative. “Canada’s central government has long provided, under treaty, a ‘medicine chest’ of funded services to First Nations peoples. Read more
If you have ever attended an Australia-New Zealand business conference, you will know how predictable they have become. So much so, one could script them in advance: effusive declarations of being family, obligatory jokes about rugby and pavlova, followed by the same old gripes about mutual recognition and franking credits. Read more
Access to primary healthcare is as critical to a government's survival as keeping the lights on. Yet a quarter of a million Kiwis cannot even register with a local GP. Read more
New Zealand has one of the world’s more centralised governments. Most taxation, regulation, and spending happen at the central government level. Read more
Even if Labour had not banned offshore oil and gas exploration in 2018, it seems unlikely that exploration since then would have been delivering gas today. Gas reserves would have had to be discovered, then permits and equipment for drilling secured. Read more
Prime Minister Luxon declared at last weekend’s National Party conference that the country faces an educational crisis. New data from the Curriculum Insights and Progress Study (CIPS) show that 78% of Year 8 students – nearly four out of every five – are behind curriculum expectations in maths. Read more
In this episode, Nick discusses his latest research note on revenue sharing between central and local government. The main idea is to provide financial incentives for local councils to be more supportive of housing development, potentially addressing New Zealand's housing crisis by aligning the interests of central and local governments. Read more
As an education academic, I taught the quantitative component of a research methods paper for the Master of Education programme. Most of the students undertaking that qualification were mid-career teachers. Read more
New Zealand's housing crisis has long been a bugbear for policymakers, affecting a wide range of policy areas beyond housing itself. Almost everyone sees a serious problem, but addressing it continues to be hampered by a fundamental misalignment of incentives between central and local government. Read more
In a stunning display of temporal gymnastics, Labour leader Chris Hipkins has unveiled a novel explanation for New Zealand’s maths education crisis. He’s blaming it on a policy that Labour scrapped over six years ago. Read more
Imagine a New Zealand where every major company is neatly divided between the North and South Islands. You would fill up at BP North Island or BP South Island, shop at The Warehouse North Island or The Warehouse South Island and get your mobile service from Spark North Island or Spark South Island. Read more