How to run a successful pressure group.
Read MoreThe Incredible Shrinking Nicola Willis
Nicola Willis delivered exactly what she promised at Election 2023 (more or less). But with the election in the rearview mirror, voters may be in for a less careful Willis in the years ahead as she promises cuts will be “business as usual”
Read MoreHas Labour Abandoned the Welfare State They Created in 1938?
The 2018 Social Security Act suggests that Labour may have retreated to the minimalist (neo-liberal) welfare state which has developed out of the Richardson-Shipley ‘redesign’.
Read MoreThinking About the Property Rights in Resource Decisions As Well As Transaction Costs.
There are more whio (blue ducks; hymenolaimus malacorhynchos) on our banknotes than in the wild.
Read MoreDo We Need a Population Census?
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ Goethe
Read MoreThe Post-Covid Economy
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?
Read MoreCutting the Public Service
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines.
Read MoreThe Case for a Universal Family Benefit
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal Cost
Read MoreAccelerating the Growth Rate?
There is a constant theme from the economic commentariat that New Zealand needs to lift its economic growth rate, coupled with policies which they are certain will attain that objective. Their prescriptions are usually characterised by two features. First, they tend to be in their advocate’s self-interest. Second, they are unbacked by any systematic empirical evidence using, instead selective anecdote. Well, yes; there is always an example to confirm one’s prejudice. But rarely will it stand up in a court of science. (The conversation is not helped by those who cannot discriminate between productivity growth is slowing down and productivity is falling.)
Read MoreDoes a Fiscal Debt Target Make Sense?
Do we treat the government finances with the common sense that household’s manage theirs?
Read MoreHow Are We to Think About Winston Peter’s Fiscal Hole Claim?
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government.
Read MoreFiscal Policy is Getting Harder According to the Minister of Finance
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?
Read MoreHow Did FTX Crash?
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.
Read MoreHow Centralised Should Our Health System Be?
The Government says it will give localities more control over healthcare decisions. But how?
Read MoreWhy Did Child Poverty Increase Recently?
Not so much from a lack of nominal income but from rising mortgage interest rates
Read MoreDo We Take Regulatory Impact Statements Seriously?
The Sorry Story of Earthquake-Prone Buildings.
Read MorePuffing Policy
Public policy towards tobacco consumption remains politically sensitive.
Read MoreTe Tiriti as a Social Contract
Interpreting the agreement made at Waitangi as a social contract is a way to move forward on treaty issues.
Read MoreLet's put down our chisels and let te Tiriti o Waitangi evolve
The debate this Waitangi Day is urging us to certainty and resolution, but we should resist the temptation. History cannot be carved in stone and those trying risk dividing the country
Read MoreOur Understandings of Te Tiriti Has Evolved Organically.
Why try to stop that evolution?
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