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Last week a lucky Lotto player won $27 million. All the attention the game has been receiving recently makes this a good time to ask why it is still run by the state? Read more

For the past two weeks, I have been attending conferences in Europe. Following the general meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in Prague, I spoke at the European Resource Bank in Brussels. Read more

New Zealanders often face calls for an Australian-style compulsory superannuation scheme that would expand Kiwisaver by making it compulsory. This is a multi-faceted issue and is worth reflecting on, particularly the political economy aspect. Read more

In its recently released Building Innovation progress report, the government rightly recognises that innovation is critical for improving New Zealand’s global competitiveness. Unfortunately, innovation remains the country’s weakest area, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2012–13 released this week by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Read more

When the government announced recently that it intended to lift exports from 30% to 40% of GDP by 2025, it was difficult not to roll your eyes. It was just another in a long series of targets whose utility was not explained, is unlikely to be reached, and doesn’t address underlying economic issues. Read more

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jets into Rarotonga today to attend the Post-Forum Dialogue of the 43rd Pacific Islands Forum. The leaders of the 15 countries attending the forum – including Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard – have been discussing a number of environmental, security and economic issues, with a particular focus on renewable energy, development assistance, and climate change. Read more

Regulation is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Some regulation is necessary as it can either set out the rules of the game in society or attempt to influence people to make better choices. Read more

Population growth is always an issue of intense debate, bouncing between a nation’s acceptance (and need) for migrants and an anti-foreigner sentiment. New Zealand and Australia are both typical and similar in this regard – both have relatively low populations for their size. Read more

New Zealand’s leaky building saga has shaken public confidence in both the building industry and the regulatory competence of government. The growth of the Certified Builders Association of New Zealand (CBANZ) is an example of a market response to the problem. Read more

The National Party has announced it will reduce the number of long-term beneficiaries by 30 per cent in five years. Ambitious stuff, but notably absent from the government’s Better Public Services programme is a commitment to ignore industry requests for state lifelines that may arise. Read more