New Zealand International Review, January/February 2021 Vol 46, No 1: p.28-29 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, 321pp, £20) The outcome of a long war is usually determined by the economic strength of the combatants. But how to present this in a lively and interesting way — battles are so much more engaging? Alan Bollard successfully…
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Review of “Not in Narrow Seas”
New Zealand Journal of International Affairs, November/December, Vol 46, No 6, p.28. Not in Narrow Seas makes an important contribution to the history of New Zealand centred on the economy. Brian Easton sees the economy as near the heart of any society for, as he argues, ‘it produces the goods and services that sustain the…
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Presentation to the Wellington South Rotary Club, November 4, 2020
Policy Quarterly Vol 16 No 3 (2020) p.79-80. The earliest assessment of Jas that I recall is that he was ‘New Zealand’s John Stone’, referring to a towering secretary of the Australian Treasury. When I told Jas this, he was appalled because their political views were very different. I explained that the comparison arose because…
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‘Not in Narrow Seas’ identifies six hinges. This presentation focuses on whether we are at another hinge. Perhaps that is the last part of the book although the Covid Crisis occurred after the book went to the printer. We use its historical insights to understand the present.
Economics Column: New Zealand Herald, 19 Jume 2020. These are historic times we are living through, so there is illumination, and some comfort, to be derived from contemplating our history. A richly informative contribution to that is Brian Easton’s latest book Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand . It is…
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’Not in Narrow Seas’, published by VUP, was released to bookshops in the week of May 23. Here are some web-based items on the book.
That William Soltau Davidson does not appear more prominently in our general histories reflects their neglect of the central role of farming.
I was writing almost weekly about the Covid Crisis during its peak of between March and June 2020. Not that I had any technical expertise in the area (in the following please allow for that) but its impact on economics areas where I had some expertise was great. Here is a list of the Pundit…
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Unlike in some other places, the New Zealand Government decided that books were not essential goods and closed all bookshops during Alert Level 4. Even during Alert Level 3 you can only buy books online.
An edited extract from Brian Easton’s new book ‘Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand’.
Published in The VUP Home Reader 2020 p.131-143
On Sunday 9 February 2020, I drafted a Pundit column, discussing the announced proposal to downgrade Concert FM. My practice is to let columns stew before posting them – in this case the plan was to put it up on Tuesday. By Monday the policy turmoil had changed markedly and I had to make major…
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To be published by Victoria University Press in May 2020 Here is the publisher’s announcement. Here is the publisher’s description of the author.
I was asked to make a short contribution at the function on 18 December 2019 for Bill who is retiring from director of policy at the NZCTU. He will continue to work on labour issues part-time.
A day in Adelaide revived affection memories of an old friend and economist.
A Conversation with My Country by Alan Duff
Presentation on 26 August, 2019. The full submission is here. Summary 1. Climate change and sea level rising is one of the greatest challenges the world faces. 2. New Zealand should play its part in the world’s effort to restrain greenhouse gas emissions. 3. I broadly endorse the intention of the Climate Change Response (Zero…
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