Reports & Media

When Australian growth figures were released a fortnight ago, many in New Zealand sighed and carried on: the cross-Tasman brain drain – now 1000 people a week – was clearly set to continue apace. But will it? Read more

Far, far from the troubles at the home front, Prime Minister John Key was visibly enjoying the military honours and his joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on his visit to Berlin last week. A better use of his time would have been studying the effects of delaying superannuation reforms. Although last month’s Budget once again confirmed the rising costs of superannuation, the prime minister ruled out reneging on his 2008 campaign promise not to increase the age of eligibility. Read more

Far, far from the troubles at the home front, Prime Minister John Key was visibly enjoying the military honours and his joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel on his visit to Berlin last week. A better use of his time would have been studying the effects of delaying superannuation reforms. Although last month’s budget once again confirmed the rising costs of superannuation, the Prime Minister ruled out reneging on his 2008 campaign promise not to increase the age of eligibility. Read more

Since the 1980s, New Zealand has had a relatively free and open economy. Abolishing most forms of protectionism has benefited consumers and made the economy more resilient. Read more

‘Charles pushes past Wills as preferred successor’, read a headline in the Herald last Sunday. Following a wave of enthusiasm after the Queen’s diamond jubilee and last year’s royal wedding, the question of who will succeed to the British throne continues to capture New Zealanders’ interest. Read more

Saying something genuinely new on the euro crisis is getting more difficult as time passes. The problems never change, only the sums involved. Read more

“A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.” That’s not a new research finding but a quote by Aristotle (384-322 BC). It opened an event on Dunedin’s Economic Development Strategy on Tuesday, which I attended as a guest speaker. Read more

Budget 2012 continued National’s battle to control government spending by attrition rather than by ground-breaking reforms. This battle will be lost eventually because mere attrition increasingly mobilises thwarted spending interests, while preserving both their privileged positions and the mechanisms they can use to increase spending when attrition fatigue has set in. The Yes, Minister TV series made the point best: entrenched interests and bureaucracies outlast politicians. Read more

Much is being made of the current exodus of New Zealanders to Australia – about a thousand a week at last count. As an indicator of confidence in New Zealand’s economic environment, it is damning. Read more

Newspapers are reporting increasing pressure from Germany for Spain to accept a European bailout. The story is all the more credible as the Spanish government, refusing a bailout, has strongly denied any such bullying. Read more

Analysing the link between the Holocaust and the European crisis is far more interesting than solving the crisis. At least if you are German. Read more

When New Zealand’s budget was handed down yesterday it was business as usual for the National-led coalition government. Prime Minister John Key’s government delivered another cautious, albeit sensible budget edging slowly in the right direction. Read more