Celebrating New Zealand’s Independent Republics.
I have friends who live in the ‘Independent Republic of Houghton Bay’. Those outside Wellington may need to know that they live in a cove between Island Bay and Lyall Bay, with magnificent views of...
View ArticleIs Jacinda a Marxist?
‘Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, has said that capitalism is ‘the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created’. But more and more people, especially younger generations,...
View ArticleContingency and Jim (1938-2018)
Jim Anderton was appalled by Rogernomics to the foundations of his soul and his political upbringing, at first in the Catholic Youth Movement and, from the age of 25, in the Labour Party, becoming its...
View ArticleHow Economically Radical Will Today’s Labour-led Government Be?
We cannot tell yet whether the Labour-led Government will significantly change economic policy from the one that the previous National Government bequeathed. We can be reasonably certain that any...
View ArticleCommonsense about Measuring Poverty
I told my econometrics students I would not penalise them for a minor calculation error in any of the statistical problems I gave them, but would halve the marks if their conclusion was obviously...
View ArticleThe Future of Free Trade Agreements
Many consider Michael Reddell, the writer of the Croaking Cassandra blog, as an eccentric provocateur. Maybe. But he is also a good economist and his judgements should be reflected upon, especially in...
View ArticleThe New Government’s First Hundred Days.
I blame it all on FDR. Political commentators hark back to his first 100 days of office. They were a bit of a policy whirlwind, but the 100-day notion was an afterthought for he did not mention it...
View ArticleThe Arrogance of Experts
In a December blog, David Farrar of Kiwiblog claimed that new incoming governments usually enjoy a huge honeymoon surge of post-election support. For instance he wroteread more
View ArticleAre Share Prices Important?
As I wrote this in the second week of February, share prices throughout the world were falling. I do not know what will be happening when you read this. I don’t forecast share prices. This sets out how...
View ArticleTaxing for Wellbeing
The economists in the macroeconomic division writing Treasury’s 1984 Post Election Briefing got into a robust argument about the purpose of taxation. Their boss, notorious for his common sense, broke...
View ArticleRedesigning the Welfare State
The Child Poverty Action Group has produced a report, Further Fraying of the Welfare State, describing the ongoing undermining of the welfare safety net under the Key-English National Government.read more
View ArticleToday’s Vicars of Bray
And this be law, that I'll maintain until my dying day, sir That whatsoever king may reign, Still I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.read more
View ArticleDoes Economic and Political Liberalisation Work?
If you have a nephew or niece thinking of going into the foreign service, give them Gerald McGhie’s Balancing Act: Reflections of a New Zealand Diplomat, which is probably as true an account as it...
View ArticleAre We Boiling Frogs?
It is claimed that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then slowly brought to a boil, it will not see the danger and will be...
View ArticleResponsibility and Policy
Some years ago, when universities were still relaxed places committed to teaching, a colleague of mine read a news item to his monetary economics class. It said that the eminent monetarist economist...
View ArticleA Big Change in Monetary Policy?
One of the residuals of Rogernomics (neoliberalism) that the Clark-Cullen Government left unfinished was monetary policy. The Ardern-Peters Government seems to have taken on the challenge.read more
View ArticleDo You Trust Your Community?
There was once a story of the drunk who would roll his way to the voting booth to vote for prohibition. He explained that he supported public ownership of liquor outlets. By voting for prohibition, he...
View ArticleHow Open an Economy?
What Donald Trump meant by announcing that he wanted the US to rejoin the TPP left everyone a bit baffled. His withdrawal from the original deal was one of his first presidential announcements...
View ArticleSquaring the Budget Circle
There is an ongoing public argument about the government’s macroeconomics stance. It is largely based on the fragmentary promises of Labour when it is was in opposition, and amounts to, to simplify,...
View ArticleImproving the Child Poverty Reduction Bill
The proposed Child Poverty Reduction Bill is potentially world leading. However the mechanisms it proposes for the assessment and monitoring of poverty are primitive. As I said to the select committee,...
View Article
