The recent reduction in the US credit rating signals that market lenders are not happy with the US fiscal arrangements. New Zealand’s lower rating is a warning that we could do better too.
Read MoreIt is the professionalism – competence and integrity – of the doctors, nurses and technicians who provide the care which obscures the managerial failure.
Read MoreIt is too easy to react to a problem rather than to tackle it thoughtfully.
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The Chatham Islands flag waves above the New Zealand one. Perhaps the Chathams offer insights on to how to govern New Zealand better.
Read MoreA canter through some of the issues facing tax policies.
Read MoreIts principles may involve outcomes which are not in the public interest.
Read MoreAre we evaluating the economy on the right criteria? Perhaps we should be paying more attention to rising overseas debt.
Read MoreWe have it around the wrong way. The issue is not what the arts contribute to market output. It is what market output contributes to the arts – and a lot more besides.
Read MoreWhy doesn’t our government reflect New Zealanders; why doesn’t Parliament make them?
Read MoreWas another IT debacle inevitable given the management arrangements?
Read MoreSteven Levitt, famous for his Freakanomics, shows that being an economist is not just mouthing supply and demand.
Read MoreThe Treasury released its budget economic forecasts. What do they say about the economy over the next four months?
Read MoreA conversation discussion between a minister and advisor.
Read MoreGrant Robertson hopes the promise of no recession and falling inflation is what voters really, really want to hear right now, more than grandiose new policies. But he’s keeps headroom for election promises
Read MoreThe May 4 issue of the London “Economist” headlined that ‘Governments are living in a fiscal fantasyland’. It focussed on the four biggest economies – the US, China, EU and Japan – although many smaller ones would also illustrate its proposition, that each was losing control of its fiscal position with rising government debt.
Read MoreMuch of the Northern Hemisphere thinks we are in the merry month of May. Here it is budget month with much speculation in the lead up to the May 18 announcements and much superficial commentary after, all largely forgotten by June.
Read MoreMeka Whaitiri’s switch from Labour to Te Pāti Māori raises questions about whose mana is being enhanced - not by the decision itself but how it’s being done. What thought has she given to her public duties as an MP?
Read MoreWe are going into the budget season when economic forecasting becomes especially prominent. There is a huge gap between how professional forecasters think about the exercise and how the commentariat treats forecasts. Here are some insights into the way those forecasters think, even if it is boring compared to what is in the public rhetoric.
Read MoreHow far has the government’s Three Waters policy retreated?
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