Wellington (28 November 2017): New Zealand’s welfare state must get much better at helping people to realise their potential to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives. That is the key message in the report Welfare, Work and Wellbeing: From Benefits to Better Lives released today by The New Zealand Initiative. Read more
New Zealanders should be a lot healthier and better off today than they were in 1970. Income per head is almost twice what it was 1970. Read more
A new survey shows New Zealanders are very optimistic about 2018. The Roy Morgan survey shows 53% of New Zealanders think it will be better than 2017 and that compares with Australia where just 31% think next year will be be an improvement on this one. Read more
If this sounds like the beginning of a joke, that is because it is. Only it is not a very good one. Read more
Voltaire's satirical 1759 novella, Candide, contrasted ‘head-in-the-clouds’ complacency about this being the best of all possible worlds, despite its blemishes, with ‘feet-on-the-ground’ realism. Viewed loftily, New Zealand’s regulations look blissfully benign. Read more
So far in this Parliament, our fresh-faced new ministers have succumbed to a bit of over-exuberance on GST reform, some misguided Vietnamese-whispers, and some contorting parliamentary questions. But if political amateur dramatics is what you are after there has been little to see here, despite our government’s relative inexperience. Read more
Careful economics and careful carpentry have one thing in common. Building things level is not easy when the floor is a bit crooked. Read more
Research Fellow Sam Warburton joins Guyon Espiner on Morning Report to discuss the dramatic increase in staff earning over $100,000 at the NZTA. In the 2015/16 financial year the number of people at NZTA earning more that figure increased from 418 to 555 people. Read more
Six-figure salaries at the New Zealand Transport Agency have increased by a third. Our Research Fellow, Sam Warburton, talks to John Campbell about why there needs to be greater transparency about these decisions. Read more
Signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the new government passed its first test on the international stage. If only all policy issues could be solved by just adding the words ‘comprehensive and progressive’ to their names. Read more
In the new cabinet, Phil Twyford stands out as the minister with the most challenging mandate. Combining housing and transport in one person has created a superminister in charge of all aspects of urban development. Read more
New Zealanders do not have a welfare system we can be proud of. Wellbeing research shows that involuntary unemployment is the pits for wellbeing. Read more
On 3 November I wrote about the Manukau DHB’s refusal to entertain the idea of a Ronald McDonald house at Middlemore Hospital. On further enquiry this decision becomes even more risible. Read more
What is New Zealand's track record with regulation keeping up with technology and are we getting it right? Radio New Zealand's Nine To Noon profiles Dr Eric Crampton's latest report, Analog Regulation, Digital World. Read more