Jason Krupp was a Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative from 2013 to 2017. Before joining the Initiative, Jason was a business reporter at The Dominion Post. He previously worked for Fairfax’s Business Bureau where he was chiefly responsible for covering equity and currency markets for the group. Prior to that, he wrote for BusinessDesk, New Zealand’s only dedicated business news agency. Jason has a degree in journalism from Rhodes University, and has previously lived in Hong Kong and South Africa.
The application of Trans-Tasman Resource (TTR) to go looking for heavy minerals off the West Coast captured few headlines when it was announced last month. It quickly sank below notice amid the tack and gybe of business journalism. Read more
Rapid technological change is more often than not a painful thing, littered with the bodies of those firms and industries that failed to adapt - just ask Kodak, Betamax and former mobile phone giant Nokia. That painful change is brewing again, this time in the form of next generation of transport technologies, such as the Uber. Read more
Philosopher George Santayana’s quote about those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it is somewhat of cliché, but only because it is damned applicable. But if there is one situation where it seems to be most apt it is with Greece and its debt crisis. Read more
As a researcher at a public policy think tank with a strong focus on economics, it is sometimes easy to take prices, and the influence they have on behaviour and innovation, for granted. Two recent incidents highlighted how powerful this mechanism can be. Read more
This week the Productivity Commission released its draft report on land supply in New Zealand’s biggest cities, showing how various regulatory and planning constraints have choked it to a trickle. Many of the draft recommendations resonate with the Initiative’s own in this area. Read more
The death of Lecretia Seales and Justice David Collins’ ruling that it is Parliament’s job to decide on the right to death has again breathed life into the controversial topic of euthanasia. ACT leader and MP David Seymour has seized on this momentum and promised to file a private member’s bill on the issue in the next few weeks. Read more
Later this month the Wellington City Council is expected to require all council-owned businesses and contractors to pay their employees a living wage if they don’t already as part of the long term planning process. To some, it may seem like a sensible measure to pay people on the bottom rung of the employment scale a minimum $18.40 an hour as a means helping low-income families in our society (the exact level is yet to be quantified). Read more
What do the Shotover jetboat operator, the maker of Weet-Bix breakfast cereal, St George’s Hospital in Christchurch, winemaker Mission Estate, and that group that plays the backing music on X-Factor have in common? No, this is not a joke. Read more
New Zealand has long struggled with a geographic weakness, namely a position on the globe so remote that Tasmania features almost as prominently on a world map as the Land of the Long White Cloud. The isolation extends beyond just the geographical, with the country and its nearest neighbour, Australia, sticking out like an anglophile sore thumb amid the diaspora of Asian nations, all of which have more in common with each other than New Zealand. Read more
Begging the reader’s indulgence, please bear with me while we conduct a brief thought exercise: Imagine for a second you received a letter telling you that the Transport Authority had conducted a review of your driver’s license. The letter says that having examined your stated reason for driving, insurance claims and record on the road against the department’s official definition of a driving purpose, you have been judged unfit to drive, and your licence has been cancelled. Read more
Housing formed one of the main cornerstones of the government’s budget. The announcements were dominated by demand-side measures, the most prominent of which was to make gains from the sale of any residential investment property within two years of purchase taxable. Read more
Charities play an important role in our society, delivering a range of social services to numerous communities and causes. Their good work is recognised by the government, which confers a range of privileges to them, such as an income tax exemption, and the state also provides a significant portion of the sector’s funding. Read more
Jason Krupp on discusses charities legislation on Radio Live. Read more
For public transit advocates wondering what form transport networks will take in a future increasingly concerned with urbanisation, congestion and energy efficiency, here is one probable answer: It will have four wheels, a small seat capacity and travel on the road. Yes, it is the car. Read more
Serial entrepreneur and visionary Elon Musk last week introduced the first truly disruptive technology in the domestic electricity markets since, well, the lightbulb. He unveiled the Powerwall, which is a simple idea: use a lithium-ion battery to store energy when electricity is cheap and then use the stored power when prices are high. Read more