And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof (unless they want to go to a strip club, ‘cause that is OK).
Read MoreA pandemic parable
Grant 'Mr Lucky' Robertson gets to be the ultimate big spender, keeping NZ on life support
Today’s Budget 2020 was nothing like the one Finance Minister Grant Robertson was expecting to give two months ago. It’s a life-support budget, which in any normal year would guarantee an election loss, but instead could help shore up a Labour win
Read MoreNZ's economy has been on ice, but it's about to unfreeze and it will hurt
As we come out of lockdown. so does the economic freeze ray holding our economy in place wear off. Budget 2020 will be all about finding ways to minimise the brutal economic damage that is only just beginning
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 MoreThe lockdown and the law – where are we now?
One way of examining the government’s actions in response to COVID-19 – by no means the most important way, but still of moment – is through a legal lens. Where are we at with that examination?
Read MoreGagging order is double dumb: Disrespecting public sacrifice & damaging Brand Ardern
The email from the 9th floor telling ministers to ‘dismiss’ interview requests about thousands of pages of Covid-19 related decisions wasn’t just bad for government transparency, it was politically stupid
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 MoreHow New Zealand saved the world
How the little country that could somehow did it again
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 MoreNo Public Policy is Costless
It may be some time before we can truly count the cost of the Covid-19 decisions. But whatever approach we take and whatever new normal we build, there will be a cost
Read MoreCome home ... we still need you ... ?
The Ministry of Health proposed closing New Zealand’s borders to returning New Zealand citizens. It really shouldn’t have done that.
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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The New Zealand Media: A few modest proposals
New Zealand media were in trouble before Covid-19. But in a matter of weeks the situation has become much worse. Getting the media through the crisis will not be enough. Change is required.
Read MoreFighting Covid-19 in the African diaspora
African communities in countries such as Sweden as being hard hit by Covid-19, in part due to cultural traditions. The government would do well to reach out to ethnic communities here to minimise risks here
Read MoreHow Much Unemployment?
While we cannot eliminate the impending unemployment; we have to flatten the curve.
Read MoreChurchill beat Hitler, but Attlee won the election: Election strategies in a post-crisis world
New Zealanders are due to elect a Government in September. Will it be the way the Covid-19 crisis was handled or the creation of a new normal that will determine who wins?
Read MoreWhy Cabinet's decision on when to lift lockdown is like plate spinning
The outcome will be Level Three or Level Four, but the decision itself is not a simple binary. The government has to balance many factors, not least the public’s state of mind
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 MoreThe King is dead, long live the (Hos)king
I kind of miss the days when Matthew Hooton was the designated bogeyman.
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.)
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