Turkey is not the country you might expect to read about in a series of columns called “Spotlight on Europe.” Of course, you could make a geographical argument. A small part of Turkey, East Thrace, is European. Read more
Presented as an engineering or operations management problem, it would seem almost impossible to solve. Thinking about it as that kind problem is now part of the problem at New Zealand’s border. Read more
State-integrated schools offer best value for money compared to their private and public counterparts and on average students at state-integrated schools are likely to gain university entry qualifications. While the average student at a state school has a 30.5% chance of gaining UE, those at state-integrated schools had a 38.8% chance. Read more
This research note takes a closer look at school effectiveness across state, state-integrated, and private schools, otherwise defined as school authority (or type) using the Initiative's school performance tool. In a New Zealand first, we estimate each school’s contribution to student achievement across the three school authorities after separating out the contribution of the family socioeconomic background using data from Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Read more
Over the past fortnight the border issue troubling politicians and the media has been whether Kiwis returning from overseas should contribute to the costs of their managed isolation. But even with its half-billion-dollar price-tag, the cost of quarantining returning Kiwis is the least of the country's border concerns. Read more
Wellington, 10 August 2020 - State-integrated schools are the best value for money compared with private and state schools, according to a new report by The New Zealand Initiative. Many parents want their kids to go to private schools. Read more
Roger Partridge tells Corin Dann on Morning Report that border exemptions for critical workers have become a bit of a lottery. A survey among New Zealand Initiative members showed that large projects are stalling, major plant commissions are being deferred and senior executives and their families are marooned overseas. Read more
Last week, The New Zealand Initiative released a new research report: Pharmac: The Right Prescription? Pharmac’s core role is to get the best health benefits from medicines for New Zealand within a fixed budget. Read more
There must be a German word for it: That feeling when you are enjoying something that is just not quite right. Not a guilty pleasure, more an incorrect one. Read more
The problem isn’t just that the Provincial Growth Fund is poorly managed with slipshod standards and politically-driven spending decisions. The problem is that it exists at all. Read more
In George Orwell’s “1984” dystopian novel, the Ministry of Truth was the ministry for propaganda and falsifying history. He would have appreciated the Resource Management Act 1991. Read more
Family coming to stay for the weekend is hardly a reason for home renovations. In a pinch, folks can bunk in together for a while. Read more
In a predictable statement earlier this week, the Green Party co-leader declared her party’s undying love for taxation. A rather Orwellian take on the libertarian war cry of “tax is theft,” Marama Davidson said those who fork out money to the state are world-saving humanitarians since “tax is love.” In the spirit of this wonderful reframing of charity, I propose a few more ideas so Kiwis can help spread the “love.” A good place to start is property rights. Read more
The Pharmaceutical Management Agency, or Pharmac, was founded in 1993 and over time has mostly achieved its goals to lower the cost of medicines for Kiwis. Dr Bryce Wilkinson’s major new report on the agency – Pharmac: the right prescription? Read more
This week, the Government announced that the real price of entering New Zealand for many returning Kiwis, for loved ones trapped abroad, and for others who might wish safely to join this lifeboat, is infinite. No amount of money will get anyone else into the country. Read more