Report to Ministry of Health by Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation & Te Ropu Whariki, Massey University. Keywords: Health; Statistics; “The report of the project Assessment of the Social Impacts of Gambling in New Zealand was primarily written by En-Yi (Judy) Lin and Sally Casswell with analysis by Ru…
Continue reading this entry »
My team of the year is the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Listener: 27 December, 2008 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; United States President-elect Barack Obama talks about a “crisis of historic proportions”. We are certainly in the midst of New Zealand’s greatest financial crisis, far more serious than the 1984 run on the dollar,…
Continue reading this entry »
Why we shouldn’t have a tax cut right now. Listener: 13 December, 2008 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; With the world in financial turmoil and entering an economic downswing, many of those who once abused Keynesian economics are now clamouring for what they think are Keynesian policies. Unfortunately, their view of Keynesian economics was overly…
Continue reading this entry »
Between Brian Easton and Penguin Publishing in Relation to Matters Concerning Roderick Deane: His Life and Times, by Michael Bassett and Judith Basset, Keywords: Political Economy & History; APPENDIX I: DEED OF AGREEMENT (OCR of Original ) THIS DEED is dated the 17th day of October 2008 BETWEEN BRIAN HENRY EASTON…
Continue reading this entry »
Contribution to the catalogue of the Vivian Lynn exhibition at the Adams Art Gallery, VUW (October 2008 – March 2009). Keywords: Literature and Culture; It is said that if you remember the 1960s, you were not there. The 1970s were much more problematic, not least because of the new wave of feminism. What was a…
Continue reading this entry »
Press Release: 12 December, 2008. Keywords: Political Economy & History; The dispute between Brian Easton in regard to the 2006 publication of Roderick Deane: His Life and Times written by Michael and Judith Bassett and published by Penguin Books has been resolved to Dr Easton’s satisfaction. He objected to the two things…
Continue reading this entry »
Address to the Wellington Branch of the Institute of Directors, 4 December, 2008. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; When I was invited to address you, it was suggested I should – in the spirit of the season – say something light. After all, we are about to break for a few weeks to be spent with…
Continue reading this entry »
Economic geography is all location, location, location Listener: 29 November, 2008 Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; When I was awarded a Marsden Grant to study globalisation in 2004, I was pretty clear about the -subject’s economics. As the costs of distance (such as transport costs) fell, the opportunities and benefits from trade rose, and that would…
Continue reading this entry »
Cycles and Depressions in New Zealand History This is a revised version of a paper given to IPS seminar, 22 November 2008. It is similar to the article published in Policy Quarterly, Volume 3, No 1, February 2009, pp.17-23. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History; Introduction It is said that a banker’s most…
Continue reading this entry »
Is the global “millennium recession” arriving too late? Listener: 15 November, 2008. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; The world “millennium recession” I wrote about in 2002 never eventuated. So what happened to it? The short answer is that the Bush administration increased the US Government deficit by spending more (especially on warfare) and cutting taxes (so…
Continue reading this entry »
Notes for an IPS Seminar 6 November, 2008. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Social Policy; This One Will Be Different New Zealand is going into what seems likely to be a long recession. We dont know how long nor how deep, nor the precise events that will drive it. There is not space…
Continue reading this entry »
Hard times are ahead – and they won’t be over soon. Listener: 1 November, 2008. Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; The financial boom is over, as is its artificial stimulus of the world economy. Its excesses are unwinding in a broadly predictable manner. I can’t tell you the exact timing, nor the details. but we have…
Continue reading this entry »
Presentation to Auckland Regional Council: 29 October. 2008. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Governance; Growth & Innovation; Aucklanders sometimes talk about wanting to have a ‘world class city’. Since any city can be world class in its class, that is not a very ambitious goal. The issue is in which class does Auckland want to be?…
Continue reading this entry »
Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation; 1. Macroeconomic Issues 1.1 The International Financial Crisis is leading to a world economic recession. Nobody knows how deep or long it will be. It is bound to impact on New Zealand and will take up a lot policy time in the near future. 1.2…
Continue reading this entry »
Choosing the vanilla type of financial institution has its advantages. Listener: 18 October, 2008 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; The more speculative end of the financial system is a casino, according to economist John Maynard Keynes. You gamble with your money: if you’re lucky you win more; if not you eventually lose it. The plain vanilla…
Continue reading this entry »
The case involved a number of parents of disabled adult children who claimed that the Ministry of Health discriminated against them, by not paying them for services for which it would pay outside carer. For more detail see http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=1396 . My role was a very small one dealing with the costs. Keywords: Health; Social Policy;…
Continue reading this entry »
Contribution to a panel which is a part of the launch of the Australia-New Zealand Connections Research Centre (ANZRC), University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Friday 10 October 2008. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Labour Studies; Political Economy & History; The Trans-Tasman labour market is over two hundred years old – perhaps since the first convict…
Continue reading this entry »
The 2008 Michael King Memorial Lecture, University of Otago, 9 October 2008. [1] Keywords: Maori; Political Economy & History; Michael King and I were students together. It would not be true to say we were close friends afterwards – for we lived in different parts of New Zealand and worked in different areas….
Continue reading this entry »
There’s no quick fix for our differences with Australia. Listener: 4 October, 2008. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; The way we discuss our -relationship with the Australian economy might be a good indication of the shallowness of economic debate in New Zealand. It’s true that on many measures – most notably per…
Continue reading this entry »
Public-private partnerships are not free lunches. Listener: 20 September, 2008. Keywords: Business & Finance; Wastewater from my dwelling goes out through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme called “Boot” (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) in which the sewerage plant was built and is owned and operated by a private company. Ultimately, the plant will be transferred…
Continue reading this entry »