How Singapore overtook New Zealand using foreign direct investment
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
31 January, 2014
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
Senior Fellow
Bryce is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, and also the Director of the Wellington-based economic consultancy firm Capital Economics. Prior to setting this up in 1997 he was a Director of, and shareholder in, First NZ Capital. Before moving into investment banking in 1985, he worked in the New Zealand Treasury, reaching the position of Director. Bryce holds a PhD in economics from the University of Canterbury and was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the Law and Economics Association of New Zealand.
Bryce is available for comment on fiscal issues, our poverty, inequality and welfare research. He also has a strong background in public policy analysis including monetary policy, capital markets research and microeconomic advisory work.
Latest reports:
Walking the path to the next global financial crisis (2021)
Illusions of History: How misunderstanding the past jeopardises our future (2021)
Policy Point: A risky place to do business (2021)
Policy Point: Is climate change a key risk to global financial stability? (2020)
Roadmap for Recovery: Briefing to the Incoming Government (2020)
Pharmac: The right prescription? (2020)
Research Note: Doing whatever it takes with someone else’s money (2020)
Policy Point: FDI: Unjustified Urgency (2020)
Research Note: Deficit spending in a crisis: why there is no such thing as a free lunch (2020)
Research Note: Quantifying the wellbeing costs of Covid-19 (2020)
Research Note: How bad might the lockdown be for jobs and income? (2020)
Work in Progress: Why Fair Pay Agreements would be bad for labour (2019)
Scroll down to read the rest of Bryce's work.
Phone: +64 4 472 5986
Recent Work
Chorus "tar baby" spreads risk from investors to taxpayers
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
13 December, 2013
The plight of Chorus and its shareholders
Healthy competition is a key driver of efficiency gains. It forces businesses to focus on meeting customer needs better than anyone else. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
6 December, 2013
What resident ex-pats think
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
6 December, 2013
Asset sales referendum: why the No vote does not make sense
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
29 November, 2013
Through the eyes of resident ex pats – New Zealand in 2013
This year, HSBC asked over 7,000 ex pats in 37 countries how they felt about the attractiveness of their host countries from a financial, quality of life and child-raising perspective. The results – many of which may seem surprising – were released early this month. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
15 November, 2013
Treasury's living standards framework – a case of role confusion?
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
1 November, 2013
Who’s afraid of sea-level rise?
Scaremongering about sea-level rise is an international pastime. Retired NASA scientist James Hanson appears to be leading the pack. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
11 October, 2013
Man of war without guns
It is a new thing for New Zealand to have a chief science advisor to the Prime Minister. Sir Peter Gluckman’s laudable brief is "to promote discourse that will lead New Zealand to better apply evidence-based knowledge and research across all domains of public endeavour". Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
27 September, 2013
Caring about a living wage
The idea of a living wage is not new. New Zealand’s Arbitration Court determined in November 1936 that a basic weekly wage of £3.16s for an adult male would be sufficient to maintain a husband, wife, and three children in a fair and reasonable standard of comfort. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
13 September, 2013
Property Rights 201: Snapper skirmishing in Auckland
New Zealanders are an irascible lot when it comes to recreational fishing. Around 50,000 people have made submissions opposing options for tightening recreational snapper fishing limits. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
30 August, 2013
What is the RMA’s real purpose
The National-led government is introducing changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and fears are being expressed that they will favour economic development ‘at the expense of the environment’. The Prime Minister implicitly acknowledged this fear last weekend when he referred to the need to strike the right ‘balance between our environmental responsibilities and our economic opportunities’. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
16 August, 2013
How RMA undermines rural property rights
On July 25, a Dominion Post article (Consent proposals upset rural residents) asserted that, under a proposed district plan, rural landowners might face new requirements if their property includes dominant dune ridge lines, outstanding landscapes, amenity landscapes or ecological and geological sites. Owners in possession of such land may now require a resource consent to work on farm fences, culverts and farm tracks. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
16 August, 2013
More RMA stupidity
On 25 July, a Dominion Post article (Consent proposals upset rural residents) asserted that, under a proposed district plan, rural landowners might face new requirements if their property includes dominant dune ridge lines, outstanding landscapes, amenity landscapes or ecological and geological sites. Owners in possession of such land may now require a resource consent to work on farm fences, culverts and farm tracks. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
9 August, 2013
Why householders can't win
By now, householders must be used to being exhorted by politicians, economists, and international agencies to save more. Yet, some policies encourage them to borrow in order to save or invest. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
31 May, 2013