Reports & Media

It’s easy to get reasonable people to agree that economic growth is a good thing, at least in principle. The New Zealand Initiative hosted a panel discussion on its recent report, by Jenesa Jeram and me, outlining the case for economic growth and dispelling a few myths around growth. Read more

The nearly unanimous verdict on Prime Minister John Key’s pre-budget speech last week is that it was completely underwhelming. In fact, some commentators have taken the speech as further evidence the government is running dry on fresh ideas. Read more

Talk about a capital gains tax (“CGT”) as a solution for the Auckland housing market has heated up again over the past couple of weeks. The Reserve Bank’s Deputy Governor, Grant Spencer, suggested that the tax treatment of housing needed to be changed. Read more

There is a new kid on the block to settle cross-border commercial disputes. At the moment, when businesses negotiate a cross-border contract, they can choose between agreeing to cross-border litigation, international arbitration, or international commercial mediation. Read more

For those outside the discipline, economics is notoriously boring. From personal experience, I can attest that economics rarely makes for tantalising pub talk with anyone but the equally dedicated. Read more

The UK elections are only two weeks away and typically, at this stage of the campaign, one should have at least a rough idea what is going to happen. Not so this time. Read more

Last week, the Reserve Bank’s Deputy Governor Grant Spencer signalled that he favours more demand-side interventions in the housing market. In a speech and in a radio interview he argued that increasing housing supply, though highly desirable, may take too long to have an effect on house prices. Read more

It was about this time last year that Education Minister Hekia Parata, in the context of a discussion about decile funding, said she was interested in reviewing the funding system for schools. Her office subsequently made it clear that any review would not happen until after the election. Read more

For those of you who don’t have access to the Kiwi Journalists Association’s Facebook page, a heated discussion has flared up after it was revealed Campbell Live may be axed in favour of more entertainment-focused programming. The discussion centred around whether this is symptomatic of a failed business model, where companies like MediaWorks are seen to prioritise profit over the provision of a good that has positive spill-over benefits to a democratic society. Read more

Apart from longer life expectancy, better health, improved education, a cleaner environment, better opportunities for our children and a happier country, what has economic growth ever done for New Zealanders? Last night, MPs Chris Bishop, Dr David Clark and James Shaw debated the merits of economic growth, and of our recent report on it, at Mac’s Brew Bar in Wellington for an audience of about 150. Read more

A small think tank though we may be, we are inclined to believe that the research reports we produce are capable of influencing policy change that will help make New Zealand the best little country it can possibly be. And, like many think tanks and research centres the world over, we understand that ensuring our policy recommendations are consumed by as wide an audience as possible is the best way to promote that change. Read more

Last week, I wrote about Ben Bernanke’s critique of Germany’s exorbitant trade surplus (Bernanke’s misguided fix for Germany, April 9). My conclusion may have surprised a few readers: The best way to deal with the German surplus would be to take Germany out of the eurozone. Read more