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The apparently successful illegal occupation of private property in Auckland’s Ihumātao is potentially a serious setback for the rule of law, and thereby New Zealanders’ wellbeing. Also disturbing are the more immediate implications for Auckland housing and the Treaty of Waitangi claims process. Read more

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” American psychologist Abraham Maslow proclaimed in 1966. The concept refers to the cognitive bias that involves an over-reliance on a familiar tool. Read more

Finding that water flows downhill is not all that surprising. But it can be vey much worth knowing how fast that water moves, and how badly wrong we can be if we assume the waters are still. Read more

When Alice tried to recite one of her lessons while down the rabbit-hole in Wonderland, she thought only a few words had come out wrong. The Caterpillar corrected her bluntly: “It is wrong from beginning to end.” By contrast, the Cabinet Paper on the National Policy Statement protecting sensitive soils is not wrong from beginning to end. Read more

Imagine you went to your GP and received an unpleasant diagnosis. Would you want your doctor to panic in front of you, speculate that your disease might be terminal and prescribe a strong medicine? Read more

As Germany heads towards an economic slowdown, and in fact may already be in recession, calls for deficit spending and fiscal stimulus are getting louder – calls for the federal government to use the opportunity of negative interest rates to borrow and invest in infrastructure. Siemens’ CEO Joe Kaeser says so. Read more

In 1936, the father of Keynesian economics, John Maynard Keynes, used the term ‘animal spirits’ to refer to the fluctuating human emotions that can drive economic decisions in stressful times. Today the term is most often found in the context of investors’ decisions. Read more

Bipartisan politics is a rare beast in New Zealand nowadays. It is even harder to spot when political parties are shy to sponsor necessary policy changes that might arouse public backlash at first. Read more

The great legacy of the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were the durable institutions that have since guided how we are governed. The Fiscal Responsibility Act set a framework for balanced budgets that has withstood many changes in government. Read more