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You can tell how the mood of the global economy is turning by looking at the books getting published. Over the past few days, review copies of two new books landed on my desk. Read more
Online shoppers beware: getting that cheap paperback from Book Depository could get a lot harder. But, it will depend on just how the government goes about taxing direct-to-consumer imports. Read more
Late last week, Labour Party Trade spokesman David Parker claimed that overseas speculation on residential properties in Auckland were a lost opportunity for provincial regions like Timaru. Parker asserted that unproductive investment in the housing market came at a cost of missed productive investment opportunities for regions that need it most. Read more
I’m not a fan of paternalism but in one area it has its place: education. Students should be able to choose from a range of disciplines to find the one that best suits their inclinations, interests and future career ambitions. Read more
If one wanted to summarise all of economics in just one word, what would it be? For obvious reasons it cannot be “supply and demand” (because that is three words). Read more
The application of Trans-Tasman Resource (TTR) to go looking for heavy minerals off the West Coast captured few headlines when it was announced last month. It quickly sank below notice amid the tack and gybe of business journalism. Read more
As a researcher at a public policy think tank with a strong focus on economics, it is sometimes easy to take prices, and the influence they have on behaviour and innovation, for granted. Two recent incidents highlighted how powerful this mechanism can be. Read more
Later this month the Wellington City Council is expected to require all council-owned businesses and contractors to pay their employees a living wage if they don’t already as part of the long term planning process. To some, it may seem like a sensible measure to pay people on the bottom rung of the employment scale a minimum $18.40 an hour as a means helping low-income families in our society (the exact level is yet to be quantified). Read more
The best case we can make for the Reserve Bank’s latest round of loan-to-value home mortgage regulations (LVRs) is not particularly compelling. Or, at least, it requires stretching our understanding of the bank’s prudential regulation mandate a bit farther than I’d like. Read more
Big data is one of the transformative mega trends shaping the way modern businesses operate. By analysing the vast quantities of data at their disposal, businesses can reshape their operations to meet shifting customer requirements in real time, with the benefits reaped in greater profits. Read more