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Wellington (27 January 2016): Public policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative commends Prime Minister John Key’s statements on housing in his State of the Nation speech delivered today. Dr Oliver Hartwich, executive director of the Initiative said that Key’s stance on Auckland housing is promising, and looks to relieve some of the pressures of the ongoing housing crisis. Read more
Wellington (9 December 2015): The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed the Productivity Commission’s newest enquiry into what a fit-for-purpose urban planning system would look like. Executive Director of the Initiative, Dr Oliver Hartwich, noted that the regulations governing planning are highly fragmented and complex in New Zealand, adding years or decades to major infrastructure projects, and delaying any economic upside that these investments may produce. Read more
Spend any time working in local government and you will soon stumble across the long-running funding fight between New Zealand’s two tiers of government. In the white trunks is central government, frustrated by the inability to make progress on projects of national significance due to what it perceives to be local self-interest, particularly when it comes to infrastructure. Read more
Wellington (2 December 2015): New Zealand urgently needs to find ways to incentivise local authorities to be more open to economic growth if local government is to meet the looming infrastructure and aging population challenges. This is according to The Local Formula: Myths, Facts & Challenges, the latest report from public policy think tank The New Zealand Initiative, written by Research Fellow Jason Krupp and Senior Fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson. Read more
All citizens and businesses interact with local government on a regular basis, either through the services they consume or the infrastructure they use. These authorities build and maintain local roads, provide potable and waste water infrastructure, pick up rubbish, and act as agents for resource use and the environment. Read more
Last week the cat was set amongst the pigeons after the Herald ran a story saying that Auckland Council was trying to raise the urban density limits in the green leafy suburbs that surround the inner city without public consultation. Squawks of alarm were immediately heard from Auckland 2040, a community group dedicated to protecting the character of the city’s residential neighbourhoods. Read more
There is a great deal of debate on the causes and solutions of the housing crisis but little disagreement that the problems we face are enormous: The number of new homes consented dropped from a record 39,800 in 1973 to a little over 24,700 last year. Over the same period, New Zealand's population grew by 50 per cent. Read more
In the cut and thrust of politics it was no surprise that Environment Minister Nick Smith denounced the Labour Party’s new housing policy. After all, while it is the opposition’s job to oppose government policies, it is just as much the incumbent’s job to shoot down ideas coming from across the house. Read more
Thanks to YouTube, there is likely to be an entire generation whose only knowledge of Hayek and Keynes is through rap (for those of you born before 1990, just go on the interweb and search for the Hayek and Keynes epic rap battle). Most undergraduate economics students will be able to summarise the great divide between Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes on monetary and fiscal policy. Read more
"Different strokes for different folks". So goes that famed line from Sly & The Family Stone’s 1969 hit, Everyday People. Read more
