How effective are those who pursue change outside the parliamentary system?
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Why Voters Will Be Disappointed by the Election Outcome.
New Zealand’s electoral system gives it a parliament which represents voters. Its winner-takes-all executive government, however, remains unrepresentative.* (This is a follow on from the earlier column on coalitions.)
Read MoreIn Praise of Public Servants
This was written before the election outcome is known. It looks at the part of the executive which is not elected: the public servants and advisors.
Read MorePolitics Makes Strange Bedfellows
This is a series of quantitative thoughts on the election outcome. It is based on the 2017 election night vote. Specials are likely to change precise voting shares and even seats. However potential changes do not invalidate the column’s overall conclusions.
Read MoreAn Alternative to Neoliberalism?
Is public spending stuck in the vicelike grip of our quasi-Austerian economic policy?
Read MorePressures to be Selfish
The last column described the philosophy of economist James Buchanan as it applied to the United States. What is its relevance to New Zealand?
Read MoreWealth’s Political Stealth
A new biography of James Buchanan, a founder of economist’s public choice theory, suggests he was not only anti-democratic but was working with others to revoke democracy in America.
Read MoreHe’s Spent It All
The just published PREFU, Treasury’s assessment of the economy, raises more important questions about our fiscal stance than what the election is talking about. Have we the right borrowing strategy?
Read MoreGrumpiness and Government Spending
The policy dimension of the election appears to be about the concerns with past restraints on government spending and the consequential social failures. But whatever the rhetoric, implementation of campaign promises is going to be much harder.
Read MoreWhen is Lying Justified?
Equivocation and dissembling have been integral parts of political life. How should we judge them?
Read MoreI Have a Little List
With most parties having announced their lists for the next election, we need to think about how the system works.
Read MoreTwo Economists: W. J Baumol (1922-2017) and M. H. Cooper (1938-2017)
The acheivements of two outstanding economists who died recently illustrate just how diverse the profession is.
Read MoreAre Markets Free?
Effective markets are underpinned by the government. The interventions may be sophisticated and well-thought through or they may be clumsy and ineffective. The neoliberal rhetoric of ‘free markets’ leads to the latter.
Read MoreWhen the Water Runs Out.
The growth of farm output may be slowing. Specialty cheeses show an alternative strategy of further post-farmgate processing.
Read MoreBeing a New Zealander.
By exploring the multiple worlds she grew up in in New Zealand, Helene Wong’s memoir ‘Being Chinese: A New Zealander’s Story’ tells us much about our worlds too.
Read MoreMiddle Class Welfare
Jenny Shipley says the middle class has captured the welfare state. But did she understand what the welfare state actually meant before she began attacking it?
Read MoreHow Does Immigration Benefit the New Zealand Economy?
Answering that question proves to be challenging. This preliminary assessment suggests the economic benefits to incumbent New Zealanders may not be great.
Read MoreThe Death of the Media?
If the Commercial Miracle of Newspapers is Over, What will Replace It?
Read MoreThe Context of the 2017 Budget
Much of the commentary on the budget was shallow. What is really going on is that the changes are small but they reflect a particular political perspective. The financial threat was hardly discussed
Read MoreHow Will Housing Prices Fall?
Following up my ‘AUT Policy Observatory’ report on ‘Housing Prices Relative to Consumer Prices: An Analysis’.
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