In his Economists in the Cold War, Alan Bollard contrasts Saburo Okita of Japan with Zhou En Lai of China to highlight a critical issue.
Read MoreWhat is the Purpose of an Economy?
How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy.
Read MoreForward to 2017
The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.
Read MorePeters as Minister
A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.
Read MoreUnderstanding Winston
The picture the commentariat presents of Winston Peters is a misleading caricature. If we don’t try to understand the complexity of the man, we cannot understand what is going on in New Zealand politics.
Read MoreThe Bottom of Policy Development
Did you think the incoming government promised to extend bowel screening to 50-59 year olds? The promise was more limited – and more feasible.
Read MoreDoes the Inflation Target Have to Shift?
here is a view that the world economy is entering a period of higher inflation and higher nominal interest rates, but who knows? Presumably New Zealand has to follow.
Read MoreHow Much Influence Do Governments Have?
The more informed an economist is, the more they keep their head down during elections.
Read MoreHumanity lost amidst the violence in Israel and Gaza
The Israel-Hamas war asks us to balance atrocities, trade off kidnapped grandmothers with bombed babies. It’s a fool’s errand. We need to remember the humanity of our enemies
Read MoreClaudia Goldin wins the 2023 Nobel Economics Laureateship
She may have progressed our understanding of women in the economy but that has not resolved all the issues.
Read MoreAre Things Falling Apart?
Coalition government reflects a nation’s diversity. Electoral arrangements show it.
Read MoreWhat does Port Waikato's "plus-one" seat in parliament mean for our election?
The untimely passing of Act’s candidate for the Port Waikato electorate throws an unexpected spanner into the 2023 election machinery. Maybe it’s time to think about how the law responds to such events?
Read MoreComparing the Singapore and New Zealand Economies
Singapore and New Zealand have much the same population – a bit over five million people. They are both affluent economies. Singapore is more affluent than New Zealand although there are reasons to believe the data exaggerates the differences. Because of their resource base and location they have rather different economic structures. Yet the two small economies work together in the international political economy.
Read MoreThe ‘Recession’ Has Been Called Off, But Some Households Are Still Struggling
While the economy is not doing too badly in output terms, external circumstances are not favourable, and there is probably a sizeable group of households struggling because of rising interest rates.
Read MoreHas There Been External Structural Change?
A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase.
Read MoreThe electorate swing, Labour limbo and Luxon-Hipkins two-step
Chris Hipkins needs a new song and dance routine and fast, or he could be doing the limbo and losing the next generation of Labour's leaders
Read MoreWhat is PREFU 2023 really telling us?
Despite the headlines, things are not much worse than at the time of the 2023 budget, but fiscal management is always difficult.
Read MoreNational, ACT & NZ First: Delivering the sun or just beach cricket?
Ignoring Tax Tradeoffs
Public policy frequently suffers because we don’t look at alternatives.
Read MoreChinese Property Market and New Zealand’s Future
Evergrande and Country Garden – two giant Chinese property development companies – are a portent of the turbulence before us.
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