Economics for extraordinary times
The combination of economic turmoil and the Government’s political weakness may be a toxic combination. [...]
The New Zealand Herald
Three Waters bill, Covid fund allocation may be legal but not in spirit of democracy
New Zealand has a good democratic system. With the right democratic spirit, our country will blossom as a true liberal democracy. [...]
Once world-class, NZ’s education system is now a disaster. How do we fix it?
The challenge for the current generation of politicians is to have the courage to admit just how bad our education system has become. And then they need to have the courage to discard what is wrong and start again. [...]
AI’s potential to polarise society
In a world increasingly shaped by AI, the value of our own intelligence and education does not diminish. Instead, the returns on human capital could well increase because of the presence of AI. [...]
The inflation lesson we failed to learn from
It is a pity we hardly teach history anymore. Or economics. Let alone economic history. Because if we knew a bit about the past, we might have a better idea of our future. Especially as we are grappling with inflation. [...]
Back to the supply-side future
Deregulation, privatisation, lower taxes, free trade, and openness to trade and investment may have fallen out of fashion recently. We need to bring them back into fashion to cope with our many economic challenges. Deregulation, privatisation, lower taxes, free trade, and openness to trade and investment may have fallen out of fashion recently. We need to bring them back into fashion to cope with our many economic challenges. [...]
An inflation crisis of the Government’s making
What if the same politicians now trying to save us from high prices caused our current situation? [...]
Social insurance lessons from Germany
Would we really like to end up with an arrangement that puts a massive wedge between people’s gross and net incomes? A system, by the way, that also harms employment outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable? [...]
Don’t let ‘sunk costs’ hold New Zealand back from freedom
With all these billions spent and all the sacrifices we have made, is it any wonder that people are hesitant to abandon elimination? [...]
The ‘Green Paradox’ in Government’s CentrePort investment
It is much easier to channel public money to some preferred emitters and then post pictures of electric vehicles on Twitter. It achieves little but the warm fuzzy feeling is priceless. [...]