Bryce Wilkinson finds in his new report Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for? Read more
This report looks at how good a job government is doing with all the tasks entrusted to it. The issue is important because government has come to command much of our resources. Read more
Wellington (18 September 2018): “Government is achieving poor outcomes for New Zealanders relative to the resources it is using.” That is the key message in the report Fit for Purpose? Are Kiwis getting the government they pay for?, released today by The New Zealand Initiative. Read more
“Productivity isn’t everything but in the long run it is almost everything,” observed economist Paul Krugman. “A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise output per worker.” This is bad news for New Zealand. Read more
I recently read an article that distressed me so deeply I feel it needed a trigger warning. The article reported that millennials are more likely to support socialism. Read more
Nutrient load is too high in too many New Zealand lakes and rivers. Cleaning up the mess featured prominently in last year’s election. Read more
It had to take an evolutionary psychologist and a lawyer to dissect (some of) the craziness of modern society and polity. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s new book The Coddling of the American Mind is required reading for anyone wishing to understand 21st century politics, not just in the US but globally. Read more
A sugar tax would generate millions in revenue and save lives, the Prime Minister has been told. The briefing from the Ministry of Health's chief science advisor Dr John Potter was given at Jacinda Ardern's request. Read more
In his latest 'Spotlight on Europe' column for Newsroom, Dr Oliver Hartwich explains just how undemocratic the European Union is, while at the same time it keeps trying to tell its members to be democratic. “I’d never join a club that would accept me as a member,” says Woody Allen’s character in Annie Hall. Read more
Read The New Zealand Initiative's submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Monetary Policy) Amendment Bill. Read more
Every two years, Treasury surveys stakeholders about Treasury’s performance. The 2015 survey was up on Treasury’s website about two months after it was completed. Read more
The only two certainties in life are death and taxes. So goes the quote attributed to American politician Benjamin Franklin (or Christopher Bullock or Edward Ward, depending on which source you trust most). Read more
“Siri, give me directions to the airport.” After a long couple of days of meetings in Auckland it was time to head home. The reply from my smartphone was immediate. Read more
Once Natanael Rother, our visiting Research Fellow from think-tank Avenir Suisse, returns home to Switzerland, he will be writing a short publication about his time in New Zealand and what he thinks Switzerland can learn from us. His goal is to find as many examples as possible of good policy that has been implemented in New Zealand. Read more
Having spent the past six weeks as a visiting fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, I noticed a certain Kiwi fascination with my home country, Switzerland. It is irritating because no one seems to believe me when I am untiringly explaining all the problems we have in Swiss politics. Read more