The alienated Angries who supported Brexit and Trump are not going to go away.
Read MoreEconomy
JAFA Inequality
While overall income inequality may have been relatively stable over the last two decades, it appears to be increasing in Auckland (and perhaps in our other big urban centres).
Read MoreWho Was Accountable for the Shambles?
A novel about an historical event reminds us of the health redisorganisation of the 1990s, raising issues remaining relevant to today.
Read MoreCan Te Awamutu Have its Own Independent Central Bank?
Pretending it can, or that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand can function independently from the rest of the world, could generate a financial crash.
Read MoreThe Nobel for Economics?
What does the latest Economics Prize in honour of Alfred Nobel tell us about economics as a science?
Read MoreDo We Need Poverty Targets?
No, but we need to address poverty. Focusing on poverty targets which are not to be achieved in the time of the government which sets them is wasting energy and opportunity.
Read MoreThe Over-Representation of Maori in the Criminal Justice System.
A report explains why: small but accumulating biases together on top of adverse early-life social and environmental conditions.
Read MoreRethinking Trade Policy.
We don’t need to refresh trade policy; we need to rethink how best to engage with the world in the context of increasing globalisation.
Read MoreDeveloping Our Understanding of Poverty
Last week’s report on wellbeing and the household income distribution told us some new things. Are we listening?
Read MoreAre New Zealanders anti-intellectual?
Is it possible to have sensible discussions in public?
Read MoreWill Housing Prices Crash?
What are the possibilities for the future housing prices? What can we do?
Read MoreAnother Ministry of Silly Walks?
As the proposed Ministry of Vulnerable Children shows, we do not take prevention seriously.
Read MoreWhat Are Universities Really For?
A Professor of Education challenges universities about their purpose.
Read MoreHow Much Migration?
Free movement of labour is often described as one of the four fundamental economic freedoms. Putting it into practice is somewhat more difficult.
Read MoreFrexit for New Caledonia?
Our nearest neighbour, New Caledonia, has a very different political economy. Will it vote for full independence from France in 2018 – also leaving the European Union?
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 MoreMisleading Pop-economics and Populism
Too much of pop-economics is misleading to the point close to being lying. No wonder there is a widespread rejection of it by the populace.
Read MoreIn the Best Interests of Her Children?
Punitive public policy too often ignores its impact on the children involved.
Read MoreMicawber Down Under
Nineteenth-century migrants may have come here to escape oppressive laws, but the laws migrated too. It was late in the twentieth century that we abolished one of the most oppressive ones. Our origins are less humane than we like to pretend.
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