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Infrastructure financing can be tough for fast-growing councils hitting up against their debt limits. When interest payments, as a fraction of expenditures, are up against the cap, new borrowing for infrastructure has to quickly provide a return that offsets the interest costs. Read more
The past fortnight has seen more local news stories about scary sea-level rise and earthquake building risks. It seems these days the public is being constantly urged by scientists, engineers and others to take costly action to reduce the potential for loss from natural disasters. Read more
Much ink has been spilled recently over Auckland Council’s decision to try recover tourism promotion costs from inner-city accommodation providers using a targeted rate. Judging by the temperature of the rhetoric, that ink is boiling hot. Read more
George W Bush’s most famous quote is the one he got so fantastically wrong. Repeating an old Tennessee saying, he meant to say “fool me once, shame on you. Read more
Sometimes it is possible to want something too much. It can cloud your judgment and lead to decisions you will later regret. Read more
Wellington (29 March 2017): The Productivity Commission’s latest report underscores the importance of a fit-for-purpose planning system, and just how far the current arrangements are from this ideal state, says The New Zealand Initiative. The Better Urban Planning report details how the current planning framework, principally the Resource Management Act 1991, has failed to achieve the economic flexibility and environmental protections it set out to achieve. Read more
Water, water, everywhere – or so it has seemed. In the past few weeks we have had a deluge of controversies over water. Read more
This week business journalist Bernard Hickey took his pen to the subject of housing, listing the factors that have unintentionally conspired to create New Zealand’s housing affordability crisis. It is a piece worth reading because it offers a glimpse into the complex and intertwined regulations and constraints that prevent the housing market from functioning like every other market. Read more
One decent policy rule is never to make the perfect the enemy of the good, but to always keep the perfect in mind anyway. But sometimes there really is the chance to aim for the perfect. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative says Phil Twyford’s infrastructure bonds are a workable policy that could solve the funding problem that is choking off housing supply in New Zealand’s fastest growing cities. The Housing Spokesman for the Labour Party recently announced a policy that would allow homeowners to pay off the core infrastructure over the life of the asset using bond financing. Read more