Oliver Twist, famously asked for ‘more’. He did not challenge the system of workhouses – Dickens did – nor the authority of Beadle Bumble. He was only nine.
Read MoreOliver Twist dominates too much of social policy.
Economy
Whither the Media?
The ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting.
Read MoreWhat the 2020 Budget Forecasts Mean
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 MoreIf it Takes Too Long to Produce a Covid Vaccine.
I wrote this note to sort out my ideas on the significance of a covid-19 vaccine for the return to economic ‘normalcy’. I am sharing it but expect readers to recognise there are judgements in areas for which I have no expertise.
Read MoreDistribution and the Budget
It is too easy to stick to conventional thinking when we are in a totally new economic environment. Thinking about distributional issues allows us to think deeper.
Read MoreCovid19 and History
Isolation and PPE in 1918
I have been asked what my book, Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand, out this month, says about the Covid Crisis. The short answer is nothing ... and everything.
Read MoreAbout the Economic Future: Good Questions – Uncertain Answers
An uncertain attempt to explain what is going on in the economy. If you confidently know the answers to any of these questions, you have not been following closely enough.
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How Much Unemployment?
While we cannot eliminate the impending unemployment; we have to flatten the curve.
Read MoreContra Damien: what libertarians get wrong about preserving freedom
A short, sharp curtailment of freedom might be better than a protracted, dull one.
Read MoreWhere is the New Zealand Economy Going?
The economy may not follow any of the just released Treasury scenarios, but they provide a basis for a discussion on our economic track. (The graph above is from the Treasury report.)
Read MoreLevel three and three-quarters: it’s not a holiday
This is going to suck
Read MoreThe five things to do for a radical recovery
To pull our society from the brink, we will need unprecedented economic change.
Read MoreA Child's Introduction to Quantitative Easing
This paper demonstrates the truism that for every financial liability is matched by an asset. A fiscal deficit creates a liability of the government. Somewhere outside government – somewhere in the private sector – there is a private asset matching this public liability.
Read MoreObituary for The New Zealand Listener (1939-2020)
The vast majority of tributes to the Listener hearken back to its glory days, with little reflection on the magazine as it was at its end.
Read MoreBackstage and Theatre
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion.
Read MoreDealing with the Covid-19 Tsunami.
Not a grand coalition, but a government of national salvation
Loyal opposition is no longer possible, so national unity is now required.
Read MoreBlack April, May and June?
In November 1918 New Zealand was hit by the worldwide flu which killed around 9000 of us. Is there anything to learn from this and later experiences?
Read MoreNo half-measures: the risk to the economy is too serious
The government needs to go big or go home. Here are a few things Liam Hehir hopes it plans to announce.
Read MoreTomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
As our record on gun control shows, too often we find it easier to put off addressing issues until it is too late.
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