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Rapid technological change is more often than not a painful thing, littered with the bodies of those firms and industries that failed to adapt - just ask Kodak, Betamax and former mobile phone giant Nokia. That painful change is brewing again, this time in the form of next generation of transport technologies, such as the Uber. Read more

It is often easy to take for granted the strong institutional backbones supporting highly-developed, western democratic nations like New Zealand. Robust rule of law, separation of powers, governmental accountability, personal freedom, private property protection, bodily autonomy and social safety nets tend to exist with little conscious thought – or even appreciation – by many. Read more

As a researcher at a public policy think tank with a strong focus on economics, it is sometimes easy to take prices, and the influence they have on behaviour and innovation, for granted. Two recent incidents highlighted how powerful this mechanism can be. Read more

For my sins in generally supporting consumer choice in food consumption, and in interests of fostering healthy debate, the Agencies for Nutrition Action invited me to argue with the Morgan Foundation’s Geoff Simmons on the merits of fat taxes and food regulation at his annual conference in Auckland a few weeks ago. The nutritionists put on an excellent conference. Read more

Humans often make stupid decisions - contrary to what we’d prefer to believe. Most psychologists would argue we’re not actually all that rational. Read more

Good cop, bad cop: That is the game that the Greek government is playing. While Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis keeps annoying his European counterparts with long monologues and provocative statements (when he is not busy giving interviews), Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at least tries to present himself as a responsible leader willing to engage in dialogue, even if he rarely commits to anything. Read more

All eyes are on Greece again this week. The Greek debt crisis was on the agenda of the G7 meeting in Germany last week, and discussed on the sides of a Europe and Latin America summit in Brussels. Read more

Once upon a time, television was a different business. Not only was it broadcast in black and white, but you could also count the number of channels on the fingers of one hand (and sometimes on just one finger). Read more

Later this month the Wellington City Council is expected to require all council-owned businesses and contractors to pay their employees a living wage if they don’t already as part of the long term planning process. To some, it may seem like a sensible measure to pay people on the bottom rung of the employment scale a minimum $18.40 an hour as a means helping low-income families in our society (the exact level is yet to be quantified). Read more