Dr Oliver Hartwich

Latest posts

A Green path to the fringe

For the Greens’ long-term success, the party would be wise not to focus on its fringe supporters –which might just get the party over the 5 percent threshold – but instead on the centre of society which could make the Greens a mainstream force [...]
Making sense of the ECB’s pandemic interventions

The ECB's policies are the macro-economic equivalent of trading on while insolvent. All these interventions are papering over the cracks in the European economy, but they are not solving them. [...]
The price for overcaution

New Zealand could keep its border shut regardless of whether it is possible to open it safely. But that would mean repeating the mistake it made during lockdown. [...]
The West in a new cold war with itself

This new Cold War could be decided not by Beijing’s victory but by the West’s suicide. [...]
Don’t mention the ‘r’ word

When legal anti-racism becomes seen as racist, something has gone horribly wrong. [...]

Democracy is not a fairy-tale

12/06/2020

In its veneration of Jacinda Ardern, Taking the lead goes so far as to become boring – even for children. [...]
Nothing stops the march of European integration

02/06/2020

No other political institution in history has been built and forged as much in emergencies as the EU. But what happens when the EU itself becomes a crisis? [...]
Sneaking a preview of our economic future

29/05/2020

Based on real-time data from the economy, a small team of researchers around Professor Christoph Schumacher has created a model to estimate current GDP as it happens. [...]
Let’s not go bananas over the Covid recovery

27/05/2020

New Zealand must remain clean, transparent and solid in all its economic institutions. We are not a banana republic, and we do not want to become one. [...]
International confidence matters

22/05/2020

To keep international investors’ trust, we must remain squeaky clean in our fundamental economic institutions. If we are not, New Zealand will come out of the Covid-19 crisis as a broken economy and a failed state. [...]
Neuseelands Politik der Panik

20/05/2020

Kaum ein Land hat in der Corona-Krise so positiv auf sich aufmerksam gemacht wie Neuseeland und seine Premierministerin Jacinda Ardern. Sie wurde dafür gefeiert, wie souverän sie das Virus besiegt hat. Bei genauem Blick entpuppt sich das Wunder als Medienhype. [...]
A safe sporting haven for rent?

18/05/2020

New Zealand fought hard to beat the virus and now it deserves to seize an economic opportunity. Safely and selectively, the border can be re-opened to anyone prepared to undergo a strict quarantine – whether they are football players, investors or students. [...]
An election year budget

15/05/2020

It should have been a budget to steer New Zealand out of this economic depression. But it reads like a budget in an election year. [...]
The ghost of Kevin Rudd

12/05/2020

First, I never want to hear another excited word about shovel-ready projects. Second, I would like to see decent cost-benefit analyses before any new spending project. And third, I wish the public service would curb any over-enthusiastic minister on their respective pet projects. [...]
The end of a beautiful friendship

04/05/2020

If at some point this crisis is no longer acute, then the Franco-German axis will feature only in history books – and the EU will not be able to find a replacement for it anytime soon. [...]