Celebrating Poet Anne Kennedy
Read MoreSing Song about Hard Times
minimum wage
Nobel Thinking About Wages
An introductory economics course student is likely to meet the above graph. It shows that if the minimum wage (in purple) is above the point where the labour supply curve (in red) and labour demand curve (in blue) cross there will be less employment. That is what students are taught. But research shows the world does not work that way.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Wednesday November 5
Rebel elections threaten Ukraine-Russia ceasefire; South Korea and the Netherlands sign a $23 million deal to upgrade Dutch nuclear reactor; Japan's Nikkei index rises to seven-year high; EU cuts growth forecast; minimum wage rises 15 percent in Venezuela; and more
Read MoreWarning: Annual minimum wage debate could lead to hysteria and unscientific claims
It never ceases to amaze me how outraged the richest people get when you suggest paying poor people a little bit more.
Act’s new leader Jamie Whyte said it was "hard to think of a crueler policy" for people most in need of work than increasing the minimum wage.
Say what? Cruel to pay people on the lowest incomes 50c more? Surely he can think of something crueler than that, like not having a minimum wage at all.
Read MoreClever politics leave voters in a vacuum
Fear and greed may be the motivating emotions in the market place, but information is the life-blood of democracy. The voters of 2011 need a transfusion before they visit the polling booth on Saturday.
Read MoreNational News Brief, Tuesday February 10
Fire danger extreme in parts of NZ as Victoria burns; Kiwis to help fight fires in Victoria; minimum wage rise smallest in four years; more fat to come off Government budgets; inquiry into Keith Locke's SIS file; teens are getting dumber, says researcher
Read MoreNational News Brief, Monday February 9
Australia's bushfires from hell; Helen Clark applies for UN job; SIS spies on MP; House values down more than eight percent; minimum wage to rise; and more
Read MoreNational News Brief, Tuesday February 3
Boy racers "sick of being picked on", but face new laws; Bonnie and Clyde couple captured; Dr Key does "health check" on banks; "modest" minimum wage increase planned; RMA changes announced today
Read MoreWhat might have been, might be better
Labour says it's being "prudent" by reining in its spending plans, but it may come to regret not giving the economy more of a boost from the public purse
Read MoreIt's not getting better Over There
The myth of the fatter Australian pay packet
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