How do New Zealand’s university departments rank internationally?
Read MoreEconomy
Is the Government Expecting a Migration Boom?
A recent government report projects huge increases in employment but at least 72 percent of those jobs are to go to immigrants.
Read MoreDestabilising New Zealand Superannuation
Regrettably, the government’s recent announcements on the public provision for retirement have added to the uncertainty the young face.
Read MoreBrexit: How New Zealand Might Cope
This is a follow up ‘Brentry: How New Zealand Coped’, setting out some of the challenges which face New Zealand today.
Read MoreBrentry: How New Zealand Coped
This is based on a note that I prepared for a journalist. It is a lead into the next column which is on ‘Brexit: How New Zealand Might Cope’.
Read MoreA Social Democrat Assesses How is the Land Faring?
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade—
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
The Deserted Village: Oliver Goldsmith
This column follows on from ‘Whence Europe; Whither Europe’.
Read MoreFrom Whence Europe? Whither Europe?
Although completed a decade ago, Tony Judt’s history of postwar Europe presaged some of the challenges that it faces today.
Read MoreBig Data – Good?
Big data can be used for good and it can be used for evil. Some recent public research illustrates the former but there are doubts about some private uses.
Read MoreThe No Man’s Land of Studying Distributional Economics
Economists and policy analysts have paid insufficient attention to the distributional consequences of change. Hence the rise of the angries.
Read MoreWhat Do We Really Know about the Distribution of Wealth in New Zealand?
Far too much public commentary on wealth inequality obscures what is actually is going on.
Read MoreWill Many Americans be Healthcareless without Obamacare?
What can we learn about health care systems and the US from the muddle that America is getting into over Obamacare?
Read MoreOur Education System Seems to Be Struggling
International comparisons suggest that New Zealand secondary students are not doing well. It may even be that recent policy measures have worsened their performance.
Read MoreUnderstanding Truthiness
How does a post-truth world work? Some psychological findings may be useful. (The Oxford Dictionary definition of ‘post-truth’ is ‘Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’ The Dictionary labelled it the word of the year 2016.)
Read MoreMedia in a Post Truth World
A recent decision by New Zealand on Air in response to the changing media technologies raises a range of issues about how the platforms are used.
Read MoreWhat Are You Thinking, Stupid?
A book about two psychologists who have altered the way we think about the way we think.
Read MoreLetter to Bill
Your In-tray is piled high.
Read MoreAngries and Mangries
Could the alienated grumpies have a greater effect on New Zealand political life?
This was written before John Key announced his resignation. Other than perhaps the tense I think there is no need for revision.
Read MoreWhat is Technology?
A new book leads to ponderings on our technology strategy.
Read MoreThe Future of International Trading.
Can Trump wreck the world trading system?
Read MoreRestoring Fiscal Responsibility
The times are a’changing, as recent macroeconomic fashions are being abandoned and old verities are being restated.
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