Month: October 2013

At a time when many observers were expecting the next steps in the euro crisis such as the establishment of a ‘banking union’ and the next packages for Greece, Cyprus and Portugal, the political situation has become more complicated.

By international standards, New Zealand has one of the world’s most centralised forms of government. In other OECD economies, local government runs health and police services, accounts for the majority of public investment, and typically controls a third of public spending. In New Zealand, by contrast, local government has traditionally been small and weak in comparison with central government.