Insights
‘Insights’ is the weekly newsletter of The New Zealand Initiative. Every Friday it provides comment pieces on domestic and global policy issues and the state of the world as such. It is a newsletter serious enough for a think tank – and lighthearted enough for an enjoyable Friday afternoon read. Please subscribe to ‘Insights’ by visiting the website of The New Zealand Initiative: www.nzinitiative.org.nz
Perhaps the most urgent task is to realise that demand-side stimulus cannot fix supply shocks. Ultimately, it took policymakers most of the 1970s to finally realise that.
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Targeting Putin and his supporters makes much sense. But demonising Russian culture more broadly is stupid, not least because it pushes Russians into line with the dictator.
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Russia’s actions have set in motion a chain of events that could plunge the world into a serious economic crisis.
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Challenges, threats, and severe risks abound. But does New Zealand have the institutions to handle them? Does the government have the necessary capabilities?
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We must rediscover the cultural and political foundations of our civilisation. It is the Enlightenment values of freedom and peace that we must defend against illiberalism, both at home and abroad.
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Now, New Zealand is not a developing country. But we do not want to become one, either.
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If you thought central planning was buried with the fall of communism, you should look at the European Union.
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The world needs more courage to draw a blank. Intentionally.
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Unlike Groundhog Day, there is nothing funny about Covid. But just as in Groundhog Day, it will all eventually be over. Hopefully, this year.
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Covid dominated the headlines in 2021, other policy areas received less attention than deserved. So, what will 2022 bring?
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