Probably most people who regularly read Pundit are in the cyberspace equivalent of the ‘beltway’ – the term for those who live in or work in inner Wellington and are intensely interested as to what is going on there, not just in parliament but in policy-making. (OK, OK, they are interested in the gossip too.)…
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They involve tax rates horrendously high or the minimum incomes so low that the UMI is not a viable means of eliminating poverty. The notion of a universal minimum income has had a long gestation. Some say it originated with a proposal for a ‘social dividend’ by Lady Rhys Williams as far back as 1942…
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‘Iwi leaders and the Government have agreed on a deadline to sort out Maori interests in fresh water by Waitangi Day 2016.’ (News: 5 February 2015) Law and economics recognises three distinct aspects of property rights. There is the ability to use the property, the ability to transform it into something else, and the ability…
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Does it make sense to compare our climate change adaptation with Rogernomics? (There is nothing in this column which questions the notion that global warming presents a serious challenge which will require considerable adaptation.) Rod Carr, the chair of the Climate Change Commission, said that the shifts required to run our economy without fossil fuels…
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Policy announcements do not always reflect careful analysis. Too often the unstated political considerations have too much influence. I was once involved with a ministry under pressure over the failure as the result of a very unusual accident of a piece of equipment for which it had a vague responsibility. The public wanted something done….
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It is not what Eleanor Catton said about the government, but how we respond to what she said. Sean Plunkett’s intemperate attack on Eleanor Catton is a reminder of just how superficial is tolerance of dissent in New Zealand. I leave others to defend the exact interchange – Danyl McLauchlan was as I normally expect…
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Jeff Madrick identifies seven bad economic ideas; Alan Blinder is more cautious. What do economists actually believe, and how does it stack up against what we think economics says? Jeff Madrick, a highly respected American economic journalist, recently published a book, Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World. It was…
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How might a non-ideological capital gains tax look like? Someone once told me that a test of being a socialist was whether you supported capital gains taxes. I pointed out that the New Zealand Treasury, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand the IMF and the OECD all supported them. Not explicitly – perhaps they are…
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Do We Need Larger Local Authorities? The Wellington kerfuffle over whether its eight territorial local authorities and the regional council should unite into a single regional entity might at first seem oh-so-Wellington – petty parochialism with small-minded politicians keen to maintain their remuneration. But other regions are struggling with the same problem. Unnoticed is a…
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As Borders Fall Are Europeans Losing Their Cultural Identity Pundit: 29 December 2014 Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Aside from the English Channel, Europe has hardly any significant internal natural borders. Seventy years ago the border between Germany and Poland was settled at the Oder River. At its main crossing point it is no wider than…
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The EU remains central to New Zealand’s destiny Pundit: 23 December, 2014. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Political Economy & History; Suppose Britain exited the European Union of 28 countries. I am not recommending it; they would probably be worse off economically. Nor am I predicting it, although sometimes politics produces odd outcomes….
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The OECD says yes; how do we respond? Pundit: 15 December, 2014. Keywords: Distributional Economics; Growth & Innovation; A recently released OECD report concludes that economic inequality hurts economic growth, and has particularly done so for New Zealand. Some of our responses were plain bizarre. Either the non-economic commentators had not understood the issue or…
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How much should the state be involved in determining who are in a marriage relationship? Pundit: 12 December, 2014. Keywords: Social Policy; The recently released Child Poverty Action Group’s (CPAG) report on the Complexities of Relationship in the Welfare System and the Consequences for Children tells some ugly stories. Benefit entitlement can depend upon the…
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It is one thing being in Opposition complaining about what has happened in government; it is another thing to have a viable policy. Pundit: 3 December, 2014. Keywords: Political Economy & History; It was unfortunate that the first public issue that Andrew Little had to deal with was the Roger Sutton affair. Here was the…
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How New Zealand businesses succeed internationally. Pundit: 30 November, 2014. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Literature and Culture; One of life’s pleasure is sitting with a child on one’s lap reading a book to them: attractive – sometimes mysterious – illustrations, humorous – even mischievous – plots, rhythmic sentences and just enough eccentric…
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How economists think about valuing life when allocating resources for healthcare purposes. Pundit: 28 November, 2014 Keywords: Health; A couple of comments to an earlier column asked questions about the quality of life versus the prolongation of life. It might be useful to set out an economic perspective on the broad issue, while acknowledging the…
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The Secretary of the Treasury appears to have doubts. Pundit: 24 November, 2014. Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; In a speech to economics teachers earlier this month, the Secretary of the Treasury, Gabriel Makhlouf, argued for a different approach to economics from the one which dominates the profession in New…
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We should focus more on introducing and adapting the world’s innovations using a skilled workforce. Pundit: 17 November, 2014 Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Labour Studies; Our so called ‘innovation policy’, which is at the heart of the government’s growth strategy – insofar as it has one – seems to be fundamentally flawed….
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The case for raising the age of eligibility for NZS; and how we can do it. Pundit: 17 November, 2014 Keywords: Retirement Policy; I support raising the age of eligibility for NZS but not, primarily, for reasons of fiscal sustainability. Rather it needs to be increased for equity reasons. Longevity is increasing….
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As times goes on the government will spend more on healthcare. That means higher taxes. Is there an alternative? Pundit: 10 November, 2014. Keywords: Health; I was on the Treasury external panel which advised on its last Long Term Fiscal Projections. The great challenges arise from rising demand for government funded services and the aging…
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