The media treat budgets as bit of a circus: lots of theatre and soon forgotten. For a serious economist they show how a team of economists is thinking about the wider economy.
Read MoreWhat the 2020 Budget Forecasts Mean
unemployment
The Reserve Bank Act - time for a review
This year marks 25 years since the Reserve Bank Act 1989 was passed. While it has enjoyed a high degree of cross-party support over that period, the original settlement is unwinding and it is now time for a review. That need not involve throwing the anti-inflation baby out with the bathwater, nor the politicisation of a significant public institution.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday June 20
Afghanistan suspends security talks with US; North Korea and China hold talks; Edward Snowden would not get preferential treatment if he applied for asylum in Hong Kong, says UN official; Obama to announce sharp reduction in nuclear warheads; IMF says Spain needs labour reform to reduce "unacceptably high" level of unemployment; and more
Read MoreBeneficiary 'impact' highlights poverty of social policies
Auckland's first-ever beneficiary 'impact' demonstrates poverty of policies as well as of people
Read MoreStat games: National nonsense about employment
If National is going to keep shining up shit and calling it gold, then I am going to keep exposing it as shit.
Read MoreCalifornia goes back to the future
California has never been in bigger fiscal trouble. So who do voters choose as their new governor? Jerry Brown, aka 'Governor Moonbeam', the budget-conscious pol who was their governor 28 years ago
Read MoreSubtle dangers in Paula Rebstock's sugar coated poison
The government Welfare Working Group's 'Options Paper' was released this afternoon. While Paula Rebstock says nothing is decided yet, its overall direction confirms my earlier fears. It could make the 1991 benefit cuts look like a picnic
Read MoreWelfare reform: Do we get tough or take the 'corduroy' option?
As the welfare debate again rises from the grave over the next few weeks, it'll pay to remember that life is messy and keep asking 'where are the jobs?'.
Read MoreWelfare report aftermath – we won't be fooled again
Response to last week's Welfare Working Group report shows that not so many of us are fooled by shonky stats and a new generation of beneficiary bashing rhetoric
Read MoreUnemployment is up, so where's the plan?
Unemployment and benefit figures keep rising, but Government continues with misguided and dangerous reforms; Jobs Summit passion a faded memory
Read MoreNational News Brief, Friday February 6
Police defend security at Waitangi; Antonie Dixon spoke of killing himself in final weeks; health system headed for bankruptcy; employers prefer cutting worker hours to losing staff; students angry at loan repayment plan; more men training as teachers
Read MoreNational News Brief, Wednesday October 22
Contact Energy raises prices and directors' fees; highly skilled workers join dole queue; middle-income families head to food banks; banks charge up to $20,000 to discharge mortgages early; Kiwi-trained teachers heading to Middle East; and more
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