Always to islanders danger
Is what comes over the seas
‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)
Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us.
Read MoreGreat Waves Washing Over New Zealand
Economy
Dysfunctional Design
Windows 95 is famous for requiring the shutting down the system by clicking ‘start, like stopping your car by turning the ignition key on. Why are so many interfaces so user-unfriendly?
Read MoreThe Third World War
The standard trope of the war of the worlds is of extraterrestrial human-like aliens, perhaps from Mars, invading earth and waging an unrelenting war against its inhabitants. The source of Covid-19 is this earth and it is certainly not human-like. Even so, the entire earth is facing a universal invader which takes no prisoners. How have we responded to the new world war?
Read MoreWhither Nationalism?
The nation-state continues to thirve despite the pressures of globalisation and social diversity.
Read MoreGovernment as an Unconnected Pronoun
Muddled thinking about how the government functions – or even what the government is – confuses public understandings of what is going on.
Read MoreMacroeconomic Questioning
The old ways of thinking about the macroeconomy have been found wanting, but the alternative is not clear.
Read MoreCommonsense Economics from Two Very Good Economists
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list.
Read MoreThe Holistic Perspective of Bryan Philpott
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy.
Read MoreMañana Politics
Just where in the economic spectrum does the current National Party stand?
Read MoreDesigning a Health System for Health Care Delivery
A recent column was concerned that the next health system redisorganisation was about centralising control, without adequate accountability, rather than about how to provide better health care. There has gotta be a better way.
Read MoreThe Rules of Consultative Engagement
During a recent public consultation on the future of Archives New Zealand, a key report was suppressed. The Ombudsman has ruled that the refusal was unjustified. Sadly, the consultation was over by the time of the the decision has been made. However, the law on the use of the Official Information Act has been clarified.
Read MoreCentralising Health Care
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people?
Read MoreHinges of History: After Covid-19?
Will the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World?
Read MoreDo We Really Know Our History?
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
Read MoreThe Wobbly Bicycle
The Government is spending like it was trying to win the election. The Opposition is trying to outbid it
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Oliver Twist dominates too much of social policy.
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 MoreWhither 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.
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