The report of the Productivity Commission on the Tertiary Education Sector “New Models of Tertiary Education” is complacent.
Read MoreEconomy
Bolger and Neoliberalism
If Jim Bolger now opposes Ruthanasia, why did he preside over its implementation?
Read MoreRedesigning the Reserve Bank?
Are Labour’s proposals for the changing the way the Reserve Bank operates sensible or nutty (as nutty as the current legislation)?
Read MoreHave We the Right Approach for Regional Wellbeing?
Past policies of banging on about economic growth have failed. A new report argues we should strategise differently with more comprehensive goals.
Read MoreThe Changing World Economy; Four Themes.
Extracted from a paper delivered to Wellington South Rotary; 22 March
Read MoreHow Much Should the Government Be Spending?
Is the fiscal pact between Labour and the Greens a defeat for the left?
Read MoreInternational Rankings of New Zealand University Subjects (2017)
How do New Zealand’s university departments rank internationally?
Read MoreIs 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.
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