Banning mobile phones in schools points to wider issues.
Read MoreBullying Politicians
Credit Ratings and International Financial Standing
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 MoreThere Are Wider Lessons to be Learned From the Failures in the Management of the Health System
It is the professionalism – competence and integrity – of the doctors, nurses and technicians who provide the care which obscures the managerial failure.
Read MoreThinking Slow Or Thinking Fast?
It is too easy to react to a problem rather than to tackle it thoughtfully.
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Governing a Region Far Far Away.
The Chatham Islands flag waves above the New Zealand one. Perhaps the Chathams offer insights on to how to govern New Zealand better.
Read MoreTaxing Issues
A canter through some of the issues facing tax policies.
Read MoreDo We Want a Regulatory Standards Act?
Its principles may involve outcomes which are not in the public interest.
Read MoreIs a Recession the Worst of Our Worries?
Are we evaluating the economy on the right criteria? Perhaps we should be paying more attention to rising overseas debt.
Read MoreThe GDP Fetish
We 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 MoreAre We Sure That We Have a Well-Functioning System of Government?
Why doesn’t our government reflect New Zealanders; why doesn’t Parliament make them?
Read MoreAccountability and Archives New Zealand
Was another IT debacle inevitable given the management arrangements?
Read MoreWhat Do Economists Do?
Steven Levitt, famous for his Freakanomics, shows that being an economist is not just mouthing supply and demand.
Read MoreThe Economic Runup to the Election.
The Treasury released its budget economic forecasts. What do they say about the economy over the next four months?
Read MoreCrises!
A conversation discussion between a minister and advisor.
Read MoreThe power of... nothing. Robertson
Grant 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 MoreA Fiscal Fantasyland?
The 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 MoreBudgeting the Merry Month of May
Much 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 MoreR.E.S.P.E.C.T. Find out what it means to Me...ka
Meka 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 MoreFans for Forecasts
We 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 MoreWatering Down Three Waters?
How far has the government’s Three Waters policy retreated?
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