Welcome to the 1970s
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. [...]
New Zealand
Flying blind
Challenges, threats, and severe risks abound. But does New Zealand have the institutions to handle them? Does the government have the necessary capabilities? [...]
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? [...]
Transparency, please
Now, New Zealand is not a developing country. But we do not want to become one, either. [...]
Intentionally blank
The world needs more courage to draw a blank. Intentionally. [...]
Our final Groundhog Day?
Unlike Groundhog Day, there is nothing funny about Covid. But just as in Groundhog Day, it will all eventually be over. Hopefully, this year. [...]
Moving beyond the pandemic
Covid dominated the headlines in 2021, other policy areas received less attention than deserved. So, what will 2022 bring? [...]
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? [...]
Unemployment insurance is anti-social
Were the innocently titled ‘social unemployment insurance’ better understood, the project would be gone by lunchtime. [...]
Reading with the light switched on
We do not want to return to Jane Austen’s times when class and background determined a child’s success in education and life. [...]