Published in “Foreign Control Watchdog” 131, December 2012: p. 22-27. In a feature article in the Christchurch Press John McCrone argues that the rebuild of earthquake-shaken Christchurch and its future development was being dominated – and distorted – by the Key Government’s approach of New Zealand Inc. (‘The Business of NZ Inc’, 8 September, 2012)….
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What is to be Done about Light Handed Regulation? Paper to the Fabian Society, December 14, 2012. For Regulation and Leaky Buildings see http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=1686. This lecture was originally advertised as illustrating the deficiencies of light-handed regulation by failures in the building industry, particularly leaky buildings and those not robust to earthquakes. The intention was the…
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He won the battle for the White House, but Obama’s fiscal war continues. Listener: 13 December, 2012. The day after Barack Obama was re-elected President, attention turned to America’s “fiscal cliff”, despite there being nary a reference to it in the campaign. Another reminder that elections are rarely about the real issues: recall how when…
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What we really need to do to get house prices back on track. Listener: 29 November, 2012. A friend was enthusiastic about various unorthodox money measures, such as quantitative easing and cutting the official cash rate. I asked him how they would work. He had no idea. His was the New Zealand way: “Bugger the…
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Canterbury earthquake victims might have received quite different help but for a 1990 change in the political landscape. Listener: 15 November, 2012. In 1988, a ministerial paper proposed reforms to New Zealand’s earthquake insurance. It came 44 years after the Government had established the Earthquake and War Damage Commission that would pay out for damages…
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Review in New Zealand Books: Summer 2012, p.23. While references to ‘fairness’ are riddled through New Zealand’s public rhetoric, how important is the notion in actual public policy? Every day someone sensitive to the issues of equity and inequality meets examples where their concerns are breached by those who, at best pay, lip service to…
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Meddling ministers and overzealous case managers are undermining ACC. Listener: 10 November, 2012. Once upon a time, accident victims had to go through a long, complicated legal process to obtain compensation, with the possibility of an arbitrary and unfair outcome. In 1967 a Royal Commission chaired by Owen Woodhouse recommended an alternative that focused on…
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This unpublished paper contains figures in its full version. Unfortunately I can’t work out how to include them. I’ll send the figures if requested. Summary This paper derives a locus between the real exchange rate and net national savings (gross savings less gross investment). Its essence is that a rise in net savings reduces the…
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A note prepared in October 2012 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Summary This paper derives a locus between the real exchange rate and net national savings (gross savings less gross investment). Its essence is that a rise in net savings reduces the real exchange rate. Conversely a rise in dis-savings increases the real…
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A Note prepared in October 2012. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Regulation & Taxation; Introduction I have argued there is a critical threshold where if the fiscal deficit exceeds it public debt grows unsustainability faster than the ability of the economy to service it (usually measured by GDP). This note quantifies the threshold…
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The just-departed Reserve Bank Governor had less power than people think. Listener: 27 October, 2012. Alan Bollard, the just-retired Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, is a genial man with a wry sense of humour. He is also a great public servant for whom we have much to thank. He will be best…
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Response to an Exhibition at the Wellington City Gallery Off the Eastern coast of Asia are uninhabited islands, such as the Spratley Islands in the South China Sea and the Diaoyus (if you are Chinese) or the Senkakus (Japanese), where territorial disputes could lead to war. Fortunately we have no such disputes, so we don’t…
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We need a child-focused approach to dealing with poverty. Listener: 13 October, 2012. Around 40 years ago, social scientists estimated that well over half of New Zealand’s poor were children and their parents, and pointed out the lack of sufficient income would stifle the development of these children. To this day, children and their parents…
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This was an essay I wrote for a competition; when I realised it it did not not meet the competition rules, I did not submit it. While writing a history of New Zealand from an economic perspective, I have been continually confronted by the environment as an integral part of New Zealand’s history. This is…
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Listener: 29 September, 2012. The world economy remains fragile. There may be another major economic crisis, but if not, things will continue to drift – or possibly sink. Here are some of the major known unknowns facing the world – and us. It’s hard to say much about the United States economy. The country is…
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Presentation to a Treasury Workshop on the Long-Term Fiscal Projections; 26 September, 2012. I am writing a history of New Zealand from an economic perspective. The manuscript – 250,000 words and I am only up to the 1970s – includes a number of appendices looking at the data. One is on government spending. The Treasury…
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This is an earlier version of a paper published in New Zealand Population Review, which was a festschrift to D. Ian Pool (Vol 7, 2011 p.178-182) Introduction In the course of writing Not in Narrow Seas: New Zealand History from an Economic Perspective I was found myself not only reporting demographic history, but using demography…
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Listener: 15 September, 2012. Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich coined the expression “iatrogenic medicine” to describe illness generated by the actions of physicians. An example is when the doctors prescribe some medicine, with resultant side effects, which are treated by further medication. The cycle repeats until a specialist reviews the patient’s entire record and stops all…
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Introduction to a Fabian Society series on Light-handed Regulation, Wellington.10 September 2012 This is the first of five presentations on light-handed regulation. Its critics sometimes call it “light-headed” regulation, referring to the simple mindedness of the idea, or “light-fingered” regulation, referring to the way a goodly number used it to line their own pockets at…
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A note prepared for discussion in September 2012. Keywords: Business & Finance; Distributional Economics; Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money; What is the Purpose of the Economy? * The purpose of the New Zealand economy is to maintain and increase the wellbeing of all New Zealanders. It is neither the…
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