Wellington is a small place. Everybody complains they’re always running into people they know, that it’s hard for young people to date people who haven’t been dated by their friends already, and that it’s impossible to have an impromptu coffee at Astoria without being recognised by some journalist. Read more
There is a lot to like about New Zealand’s labour laws. At 80.9%, our labour market participation rate is among the highest in the world. Read more
“A regional outbreak of an infectious disease requires emergency mass vaccinations of about 125,000 people.” What sounds like a report from the distant past or a developing country happened only this week, in New Zealand. Measles is back. Read more
After a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said new documents to be added to the Brexit deal provided "legally binding changes" to the part relating to the Irish border. Before UK MPs voted on the deal, Oliver Hartwich discussed with Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB if these changes are a real breakthrough. Read more
There’s an old joke about the neighbourhood dog that loved to chase cars down the road – what would it ever do if it caught one? The Government has been a bit like that with tobacco harm reduction. Read more
Australia’s banking royal commission did not pull any punches in its final report released last month. Most of them were directed at Australia’s financial services sector. Read more
Partisanship is a powerful and deadly drug. Canada is the latest in a too-lengthy list of places badly in need of rehab. Read more
The government is hyping Budget 2019 as a world-leading “Wellbeing Budget”. The December 2018 Budget Policy Statement proclaims the government’s key focus on improving the wellbeing and living standards of New Zealanders. Read more
Benjamin Franklyn is famously credited with writing “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. That may be true, but a cynic might retort that at least death does not get worse every time governments look for extra funding. Read more
British Prime Minister Theresa May masters the art of political flexibility. Over the past three years, she has held a variety of views on many Brexit issues. Read more
In the mid‐1980s, New Zealand was forced into a major economic restructuring. Those adjustments were particularly significant for the traded goods sector, since export subsidies and import barriers were largely eliminated. Read more
The Tax Working Group’s proposed capital gains tax would constitute one of the most penal regimes in the world if implemented. A comprehensive CGT regime would also tarnish the simplicity and competitiveness of New Zealand’s internationally praised tax system. Read more
“Few ways are guaranteed to make yourself unpopular in New Zealand: try claiming that pavlova was an Australian invention; hating the All Blacks; or maybe expressing sympathy for local government.” This is the opening paragraph in our new publication #localismNZ: Bringing power to the people. We launched it yesterday at a joint symposium with Local Government New Zealand. Read more
The jury is out for the released Tax Working Group’s “Future of Tax” Report, with the government promising to deliver its verdict in April. Unfortunately, a careful reading of the 200-page document already shows a missed opportunity to address New Zealand’s biggest elephant in the room: slow productivity growth. Read more
Scroll down your news feed, what do you see? Trump’s latest dumb tweet, an update on the crisis in Venezuela, maybe something on Brexit? Read more