Is fuel tax regressive?
Auckland’s regional fuel tax has been in place for a week. It was in the Labour party’s election manifesto. Read more
10 July, 2018
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Dispatches from the Core
We are lucky that, last year, economist Aaron Schiff provided us with an excellent collective noun for a grouping of economists. Owls, in concert, form a parliament. Read more
Dr Eric Crampton
7 July, 2018
Millennial ignorance
"One of the uses of history is to free us of a falsely imagined past”, the late American legal scholar Robert Bork once wrote. One might add that another use is the prevention of repeat mistakes. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich
29 June, 2018
The lack of interest in the public interest
Late last month Housing New Zealand was widely condemned for being overzealous about amphetamine contamination. A report by the chief scientist had concluded that tenants were being evicted and state houses de-contaminated when there was no clear scientific evidence of a threat to human health. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
29 June, 2018
Government failure blamed for road toll
A seventh person died in Waikato Hospital after a head-on collision near Waverley in South Taranaki. Sam Warburton tells Mike Hosking the road toll has gone up by 60 percent over the past four years, but travel is only up 15 percent. Read more
28 June, 2018
Sovereign risk and the divine right to rule - at a whim
Last week a long-standing geologist friend chewed my ear about the government’s irresponsible ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration. I call it irresponsible because on the evidence no meaningful consideration was given to the interests of New Zealanders. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson
22 June, 2018
An assault on our senses
A couple of years ago we got the lads together and set off on a South Island road trip. It was a great opportunity to get away from the rat race and show some of my North Island mates around the South Island. Read more
22 June, 2018
Nothing is forever (except for the euro crisis)
In a different country, a long time ago, I once set out to be a weekly columnist. And it was no ordinary column. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich
22 June, 2018
Waste not, store that
Dilbert creator Scott Adams likened knowing a bit of economics to having a mild superpower. High among economists’ mild superpowers is the ability to use formal mathematics to define what words mean. Read more
Dr Eric Crampton
15 June, 2018
Time to push back
The meth testing debacle is one of the biggest government failures in recent times. The Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor’s report and the surrounding discussion, much of it predating the report by two years, has shone light on the primary cause: a lack of evidence in policy making. Read more
8 June, 2018