An Infrastructure Commission report says we are keeping up with infrastructure better than we might have thought from the grumbling. But the challenge of providing for the future remains.
Read MoreHave We an Infrastructure Deficit?
Housing
Flooding Housing Policy
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.
Read MoreCensus 2023
Why I Take the Population Census Seriously
Read MoreBudget 2018: Backing empathy with steel?
Will the Budget truly stand behind the new kindness initiative? Here's a wish list to set the agenda
Read MoreIt's a Sicilian message
Alfred Ngaro appears to think the Government can stop its critics taking part in government programmes. That's not just wrong from a political morality standpoint, it's flat out illegal.
Read MoreWhat Do We Really Know about the Distribution of Wealth in New Zealand?
Far too much public commentary on wealth inequality obscures what is actually is going on.
Read MoreLetter to Bill
Your In-tray is piled high.
Read MoreWill Housing Prices Crash?
What are the possibilities for the future housing prices? What can we do?
Read MorePolicy by Panic
In too many areas the government is avoiding taking policy decisions. When it has to its panic measures are knee-jerk and quick-fix
Read MoreHousing and Monetarism
The Reserve Bank cannot deliver affordable housing by itself. Its actions have to be coordinated with the government's. Unfortunately the monetarist framework of the Reserve Bank Act obscures this.
Read MoreThe Budget: A Longer Term Prognosis.
A major preoccupation of the budget was preparing for the next major financial crisis. To do so it is reducing government spending relative to GDP. Where do tax cuts fit in?
Read MoreHave We a Housing Policy?
The government has let the housing market deteriorate with measures which are insufficient, late and ineffective. As a first step we need to identify the underlying problems.
Read MoreA tangata whenua shaped elephant on the path
The Government's plans to use the Crown's land for houses for Aucklanders face a bit of a problem - it may not be able to sell them the land on which those houses sit.
Read MoreI'll huff and I'll puff and blow their houses down
Both National's and Labour's housing policies can begin to look like a house of cards when you get into the detail. But one seems more likely to give us more houses
Read MoreThe secret behind the housing debate -- and 3 ideas
We're going to need just about every one of the housing policies being thrown around at the moment because any big fix is going to be down to lots of small change... and it's going nuts out there
Read MoreHousing affordability is about inequality
Increasing the supply of housing is only part of the solution. Demand needs to be shored up. That means changing incentives so that wage earners can compete with investors.
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