Incentives on the agenda
Between a policy idea and its political take-up, many years can pass. But that makes it even more satisfying when it eventually happens. [...]
2021
The politics of legal sausage-making
The business of legislation is murky. As the saying goes, “Laws are like sausages: Better not to see them being made”. [...]
When time stood still
If Europe cannot even tackle the relatively straightforward question of whether to have DST – and if it rather hopes that such issues would go away by ignoring them, it does not bode well for the EU as an institution. [...]
Muldoonist ad hocery is back
The worst of Muldoonism is back in New Zealand politics. It is a morass of ad hoc interventions and spiralling public debt. We know how that ended last time. [...]
Learn from the European ETS experience
Whether to cut emissions is a moral question. How to achieve this cut should be an economic one. The price of getting this distinction wrong is high. [...]
All hail the Technoking
Filings to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rarely have entertainment value. That is unless Elon Musk is involved. [...]
A nation talking to itself
Fringe media promote fringe views. And fringe views create fringe politicians. Thus, the polarisation will jump from the media into politics. But it does not have to happen this way. [...]
The backroom deal to find Germany’s next Chancellor
German politics can appear complicated from the outside. However, for casual observers there is at least one consolation: few things ever change. Just prepare to get used to a different name after 16 years of Merkel. [...]
Transparency, please
An organisation confident in its recommendations should not fear transparency about its modelling. [...]
Building for an ageing population
These sober findings put debates around New Zealand’s housing crisis into a different perspective. As bad as the housing market situation is today, there is worse to come if we do not unlock the supply side of the housing market now. [...]