Year: 2014

Business Spectator

The strange death of liberal Germany

11/09/2014
In its better days, the FDP was the only party prepared to challenge this cosy consensus of German feel-good politics and talk about those issues that were not universally popular. The voters obviously did not appreciate such tough talk and have delivered the maximum punishment to the party by voting it out of existence. You can do that with a party but the problems will not go away just because the voters do not like to be reminded of them.

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National Business Review

Grand Coalition the price of MMP

05/09/2014
Perhaps the occasional Grand Coalition is the price we have to pay for our MMP electoral system. If you want to avoid difficult coalition bargaining and prefer clear parliamentary majorities, then a first-past-the-post system would be better.

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Insights

How dismal is economics?

29/08/2014
It came as a bit of a surprise when I discovered a new paper written by two, well, economists claiming that economics makes you happy. To add to my sense of astonishment, the economists were German and the objects of their study were young German economists.

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Business Spectator

The sublime irony of Draghi’s dilemma

28/08/2014
With all of Europe’s woes, the ECB now looks like the last institution able to move the continent’s economy. But even the ECB cannot achieve what Europe really needs to make it viable in the long run: painful but effective economic reforms.

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Insights

Don’t mention the War?

15/08/2014
“Don’t mention the War” was not just a Fawlty Towers quote – it was my experience growing up in Germany. Against this background, the colourful ways in which the wars a remembered in the Commonwealth still strike me as odd.

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Business Spectator

The calm before the eurozone storm

14/08/2014
The next stages of the euro crisis are already programmed into the system. It is just a matter of time until the current period of calm ends. And though it is impossible to when we can expect the next euro storm, one thing we can say with certainty: The euro crisis is not over. Far from it.

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National Business Review

Change without pain over the decades

01/08/2014
Every achievement is a result of effort and determination. To make this country even better for the future, it will take the same courage and purpose that it took previous generations to build the New Zealand we live in today. If we do not want to fall behind, we cannot afford to stand still.

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