Treasury has announced that it is having a major review of its macroeconomic policy framework.
Read MoreWhere is Fiscal and Monetary Policy Going?
Economy
Why We May Expect to Pay More Tax
Legitimate pressures on government spending suggest we are going to have to raise total tax revenue or suffer a poorer quality New Zealand.
Read MoreIs the Māori Caucus So Dominant in Labour?
Journalist Graham Adams recently drew parallels between David Lange in the Fourth Labour Government and Jacinda Ardern in the Sixth, arguing that just as Lange was a hostage to the Rogernomes in his cabinet, Ardern is a hostage to the Māori in her caucus.
Read MoreCovid as Warriors
The book I am currently working on – tentative title ‘In Open Seas’ – looks at the current and future New Zealand. One chapter describes the policy towards Covid using the trope of warfare. It covers an important period in our history but it also shows how policy evolves and why, as Jacinda Ardern said, it was difficult to plan. This is as far as I have got (edited).
Read MoreSing Song about Hard Times
Celebrating Poet Anne Kennedy
Read MoreWatering Down Local Authority
The tunnelling machine for Auckland Watercare’s $1.2b 14.7km Central Interceptor Network which is expected to substantially reduce sewage overflows onto Auckland beaches by 2025.
Why is there so much local opposition to the Three Waters restructuring?
Read MoreCorporatising the Water Infrastructure
What is the Three Waters Restructuring Actually About?
Read MoreNobel Thinking About Wages
An introductory economics course student is likely to meet the above graph. It shows that if the minimum wage (in purple) is above the point where the labour supply curve (in red) and labour demand curve (in blue) cross there will be less employment. That is what students are taught. But research shows the world does not work that way.
Read MoreVaccinating the Underclass
If we want to minimise the impact of the Covid virus we are going to have to think about social class.
Read MoreAbstraction and Reality in Economics
Sometimes high theory loses the human point of the exercise.
Read MoreForced Re-entry
The elimination of Covid strategy is not so much defeated but changing circumstances means that policy has to evolve.
Read MoreWhat Happened under Rogernomics and Ruthanasia?
A Rogernome Defends the Policies.
Read MoreLibertarians, Neoliberals, Ordoliberals and Economists.
Not all neoliberals are the same, as a comparison ranging from Don Giovanni to Geneva School ordoliberals shows.
Read MoreBig Challenges for the Government
A short review of the policy issues that Labour is facing and the ministers undertaking them.
Read MoreLiberal-Conservatives and Social Democrats: The Future of Māori
Michael Cullen set out his political philosophy in his autobiography. So has Chris Finlayson. His is having significant impact on Māori development.
Read MoreAre We Undermining Science’s Credibility?
Perhaps one of the reasons for vaccination hesitancy is that we are too casual about what constitutes science.
Read MoreEconomic Predicting Is Not What It Seems
The research evidence is that humans, even experts, are poor forecasters.
Read MoreHas Our Electricity System Burnt Itself Out?
Trying to organise the electricity system around a competition model based on financial markets does not make sense.
Read MoreThe Executive Is not just Politicians; the Bureaucracy Counts.
Politics in New Zealand is presented to the general public as theatre or sport. What is really going on is often misunderstood.
Read MoreHow Broken is the Public Service?
Geoffrey Palmer has said that the public service has been so run down since 1984 that it could not today implement changes of the magnitude that the Lange-Douglas Government did.
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