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“What do we want? Evidence-based policy! Read more

Complaining about a housing crisis in New Zealand has become a national sport, spawning all sorts of wrong policy remedies. New Zealand’s housing issue is a supply problem: The country’s rules and institutions are not conducive to a thriving building industry. Read more

Oscar Wilde once quipped that a cynic was “a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”. That saying has since migrated to refer to economists. Read more

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says NZ Bus is up to 40 drivers short, with up to 30 cancelled services a day. He now wants the Transport Minister to help improve local bus services. Read more

There is a lot to like about New Zealand’s labour laws. At 80.9%, our labour market participation rate is among the highest in the world. Read more

When Queenstown Lakes District council announced a referendum last week on imposing a levy on visitors to the tourist hub, it made headlines around Otago. In fact, the proposal potentially has implications for infrastructure and tax reform across New Zealand. Read more

Benjamin Franklyn is famously credited with writing “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. That may be true, but a cynic might retort that at least death does not get worse every time governments look for extra funding. Read more

In the mid‐1980s, New Zealand was forced into a major economic restructuring. Those adjustments were particularly significant for the traded goods sector, since export subsidies and import barriers were largely eliminated. Read more

The jury is out for the released Tax Working Group’s “Future of Tax” Report, with the government promising to deliver its verdict in April. Unfortunately, a careful reading of the 200-page document already shows a missed opportunity to address New Zealand’s biggest elephant in the room: slow productivity growth. Read more

The Tax Working Group’s proposed capital gains tax would constitute one of the most penal regimes in the world if implemented. A comprehensive CGT regime would also tarnish the simplicity and competitiveness of New Zealand’s internationally praised tax system. Read more