Year: 2013

Business Spectator

No olive branch for a European comedy

23/05/2013
Whether there have to be single-use oil canisters on European restaurant tables or not may not be the biggest question for the world economy today. But to watch the European Union dealing with it in such an overly-bureaucratic way, one may well be concerned for the future of the European economy – not just in olive-growing countries.

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Insights

Wellington is alive

10/05/2013
It is often said that nobody voluntarily moves to Wellington, but after a few weeks here hardly anyone wants to leave it. It certainly was like this for me.

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Business Spectator

Is Germany edging towards the exit?

02/05/2013
The Bundesbank and the German constitutional court are confronting and challenging the ECB, and such a conflict cannot just be moderated away. Eventually, the Germans will need to come clear on where they want to take the eurozone.

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National Business Review

Opposition power plan unplugged

26/04/2013
As economists are aware, regulating network industries is fiendishly difficult. No matter where you stand on the single-buyer model and whether it could be made to work, shocking markets and investors with populist proposals (provoking equally populist responses) is not the way to go about it.

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Insights

How serious are the Greens about their energy proposal?

26/04/2013
To link the debate about the best market structure for the electricity sector to the question of executive pay makes one wonder how sincere the Greens really are about their proposals. Are they driven by the wish to develop and discuss good economic policy? Or is it only about scoring political points?

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Business Spectator

Fire and ice on Europe’s debt march

25/04/2013
At the moment, the only countries able to function with the euro are those of the healthier euro core. They should allow the other eurozone members to depart from monetary union. Otherwise we will never be able to see some actual green shoots in Europe.

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National Business Review

The real budget challenge

19/04/2013
Make no mistake about it: New Zealand’s enduring economic viability depends upon the government’s ability to demography-proof public finances. And on living up to this task depends the Prime Minister’s historic legacy.

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