New Zealand’s highest stakes bet is taking place at the country’s border, where Covid infected Kiwis and returning residents are arriving almost every day. When you are betting the farm, you need to play your best hand. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative has welcomed the National Party’s announcement of its housing policy and legislation. “Housing affordability is all about supply. Read more
My first job after my law doctorate was as an assistant to a Liberal Democrats peer in the UK House of Lords. It was a helpful lesson on the difference between the theory and practice of law-making. Read more
New Zealand is not among the world’s most geologically stable places. The Christchurch earthquake was just over a decade ago. Read more
Policy Analyst Joel Hernandez spoke to The Project about his research on the state of schooling in New Zealand, which looked at the effectiveness across state, state-integrated, and private schools. In his report, Joel said in order to improve our education system, the Ministry of Education must learn which schools are bucking the trend and overcoming socioeconomic barriers. Read more
After much finger-pointing, the Government has finally found the real culprits behind high house prices. Yes, it was the evil ‘speculators’ all along. Read more
Data from the OECD reveals extraordinary increases in the cost of housing in most countries. Since 2000, house prices in OECD countries have gone up 39% after inflation across the OECD. Read more
In this week's Initiative podcast, and ahead of the trans Tasman bubble opening up on 19 April 2021, Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton discusses the safety measures that should already be in place to make this a success and, hopefully, put New Zealand on track to open up bubbles with other low-risk countries.
The New Zealand Initiative · PODCAST: Dr Eric Crampton discusses safety measures around the opening of the Trans Tasman bubble Read more
Bubbles are beautiful but fragile things. Not letting the new one break matters. Read more
It is easy to dismiss critics of the Climate Change Commission’s plan to reduce emissions as opposed to any action at all. Too easy. Read more
If you want to get an idea of the European Union’s ability to make good decisions and implement them swiftly, you could look at its Covid vaccination rollout. But if that is too depressing, you could also consider the farce around Europe’s Daylight Savings Time. Read more
Three roads bounded the farm where I grew up in Southern Manitoba. To the East was the highway. Read more
Currently, every house auction is a contest between competing bidders. The auction confronts each bidder with the last price bid. Read more
Local government is fundamentally broken because of the way councils are financed, how the costs and benefits of urban growth are divvied up, and the incentives thus created. Councils bear the costs of growth. Read more
According to Long’s Axiom, an elephant is a mouse built to government specifications. The saying is a corollary to the old gag about a camel being a horse designed by a committee. Read more