The new Minister of Finance implied that Treasury’s ‘books’ were deceptive. Can’t see it myself.
Read MoreWas the 2023 Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update Misleading?
Treasury
The Economic Runup to the Election.
The Treasury released its budget economic forecasts. What do they say about the economy over the next four months?
Read MoreThe Economy in 2023?
The figure is from the Treasury forecasts. It shows the May (Budget) and December (Half Year) tracks of GDP.
The two most comprehensive forecasts of the New Zealand economy are by the Reserve Bank and the Treasury. They are especially important because they inform monetary and fiscal policy. What do they say?
Read MoreWhat is the Medium-Term Future for the New Zealand Economy?
The outlook does not look that promising.
Read MoreShould We Take Economists’ Predictions Seriously?
There are quality economic forecasts and there are entertaining ones.
Read MoreWhere is Fiscal and Monetary Policy Going?
Treasury has announced that it is having a major review of its macroeconomic policy framework.
Read MoreDoubts and Hopes About The Treasury
The kerfuffle over the budget leaks precipitated a public exposure of a simmering concern about the quality of Treasury’s work.
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.
Read MoreGabriel Makhlouf's already had three strikes. Can he really avoid being 'out'?
You don't have to believe the conspiracy theories to see that Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf is in serious trouble. A new inquiry will have to uncover something yet unknown to excuse the three strikes he committed last week
Read MoreTreasury troubles, strike money & growing grains of salt for polls
Reality forces limits. But expectations once created have to be managed. The government is learning that the hard way. Plus money for striking teachers and poll lessons
Read MoreIt may walk like social investment & quack like social investment, but it's not social investment
The current approach to social investment suggests we can use big data and new technology to better understand who will access public services and fix them. But this is not social investment
Read MoreNow the drugs (laws) don't work, they just make you worse
It's not exactly news that our criminal prohibition on possessing marijuana is a really bad policy. But a bunch of news stories this week serve to remind us just how bad it is.
Read MoreAn economic comedy in four acts
A little pre-Christmas fun, looking at Treasury's prediction that National will fail to reach its much-promised surplus through some literary lenses
Read MoreThe cautionary tale of a successful welfare system
Of all the organisations that might have become champions of the welfare state, it's Treasury that has shown why we need it -- and why it is at risk
Read MoreLawnmower Treasury says it's time for a trim
Treasury's advice to Bill English is nothing if not clear – it's time to cut. So does its briefing to the incoming minister make its case? Or rather miss the point entirely? What do you think...
Read MoreMOM … Show me the money!
John Key’s hottest line from the last election campaign could come back to haunt him as he ploughs ahead with the expansion of the “Mixed Ownership Model” by selling shares in a batch of state-owned assets.
Read MoreAn economical economy
Ideas on how to restructure an ‘economy’ that means what it says: an economical, ecological economy that manages resources sustainably, and allocates them fairly
Read MoreDictators and the smell of money
As a tyrannical dictator is ousted in Tunisia don't lose sight of another who has returned to Haiti to cash in on the billions of aid dollars...and meanwhile back in Canada, relatives of the Tunisian are moving in to my neighbourhood!
Read MoreUniversal pension: universally fair?
What the Retirement Income Policy and Intergenerational Equity conference told us about selfish generations, and raising the age of pension entitlement
Read MoreSuperannuation, baby-boomers and why John Key's a wimp
The swarm of locusts that is the baby-boomer generation starts retiring this year, so we can delay no longer. The warnings from Treasury are scarily stark. It's time to grasp the question of retirement
Read MoreOverseas investment: our open home
The onus is on the government to explain how a looser overseas investment policy will have net benefit for New Zealand
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