Focus on price stability
We need central banks globally to refocus on their core task: price stability. [...]
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
No trivial pursuit
At the very least, schools should teach students how to read, write and calculate. Our children are wasting their potential if we do not equip them with these skills. [...]
Paying the price for economic mismanagement
The Government’s economic competence will determine how long and how deep our economic downturn will be. [...]
The meaning of independence
New Zealanders must realise that, in a less benign world, an independent foreign policy cannot mean neutrality. And the Prime Minister delivered that message loud and clear. [...]
The jury is out
I still believe in trial by jury. But not in the efficiency of our justice system. [...]
Māori deserve better than the RBNZ’s cultural appropriation
Māori are not responsible for a central bank that has lost its way. [...]
How central banking lost its way
Stability is the task for which central banks were established. But by becoming involved in social, indigenous or environmental policy areas, central banks lost sight of it. [...]
The Whistling-in-the-Dark Budget
Reality obviously has not caught up with this Government yet. New Zealand is facing an economic crisis, but the Government is having none of it. [...]
Bridges to Ukraine
International junkets for public servants are not my cup of tea. But I will make an exception for the New Zealand Transport Agency, Waka Kotahi. Let’s send their infrastructure team to Ukraine. [...]
Too much of a good thing
Successful economies have low unemployment. However, these are no ordinary times, and New Zealand’s ultra-low unemployment rate of 3.2% should worry everyone. [...]