Dr Oliver Hartwich

You could fix so much that’s wrong in NZ. So why choose a welfare system that works?

The New Zealand government has picked the one part of the New Zealand economy that does not require a big reform for its biggest legacy project: the welfare state. [...]

A conference nightmare

Having attended too many public policy conferences, it was only a matter of time until they started haunting me in my sleep. [...]

Blurring boundaries: how Jacinda Ardern challenges journalism’s ethics

The government offered money conditional on media giving up on the very principles that differentiate journalism from public relations. [...]

Italy faces threat of its most right-wing government since Mussolini

It does not sound like a fascist revolution for Italy. It rather sounds like business as usual. [...]

Wanted: A plan for real change

Whoever produces the better roadmap will win next year’s election. [...]

Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022)

As we are saddened by Elizabeth’s passing, she leaves us many models: a model of duty, of service, of promises kept, of integrity, of unity. [...]

Germany faces a new kind of cold war this winter

The Ukraine war has triggered an almighty political, social and economic catastrophe for Germany. It is not on the scale of a hot war, but the maximum havoc an enemy could inflict without military force. [...]

Voodoo economics guide NZ workplace relations

person welding wearing a prootective metal mask

While Australia has now started the process of reforming its broken employment relations system, New Zealand has started to break its working one. [...]

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. [...]

270,000 jobs in a better kind of Grexit

European monetary policy has previously smashed the fragile plates of the Greek economy to the floor; 12 years on, they've finally pieced it all back together [...]