Author Archives: Brian Easton

The Commercialisation Of New Zealand

This entry was posted in Governance, History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy, Political Economy & History, Regulation & Taxation, Social Policy on by .


Auckland University Press, 1997. 288pp.

Well-known economist and commentator Brian Easton describes the origins, theory, history and politics of the dramatic change in economic policy in New Zealand from Robert Muldoon’s interventionism to Roger Douglas’s commercialisation and beyond. It is graphically illustrated with case studies including health, education, broadcasting, environment and heritage, government administration, the labour market, cultural policy and science. Lively broad ranging and controversial, this is a valuable commentary on the ‘more-market’ prevalent in New Zealand from the mid 1980s. (Publisher’s blurb)

A Coiled Spring

This entry was posted in Political Economy & History on by .

Prologue to “The Commercialisation of New Zealand”    Keywords: Political Economy & History;  Following the introduction of refrigeration in 1881, New Zealand developed as a specialist pastoral exporter of meat, wool, and dairy products, mainly to Britain. Before that, distance from markets had confined the economy to exported quarried resources (especially gold) and wool, tallow,…
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The Abandoning Of Equity

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics on by .

Chapter 3 of ‘The Commercialisation of New Zealand’   Keywords: Distributional Economics;   Between 1984 and 1991 the public policy objective of equity, in any of its meanings of the 1970s, was increasingly abandoned. There was no single moment when this occurred, as happened with employment policy when the Labour government downgraded the priority of…
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The Fallacy Of the Generic Manager

This entry was posted in Governance, Health on by .

Appendix to Chapter 9 of The Commercialisation of New Zealand

Keywords: Governance; Health;

A central notion of the New Zealand reforms of the 1980s and early 1990s was that an able manager was capable of managing any agency in the private or public sector. This has two implications. First, it suggests that all economic activities are broadly the same, or may be treated so for policy purposes, since the required management skills and approaches are not sector specific. Second, it encourages the replacement of specialist managers, who had typically developed in the sector, with generalists who had not, but who would be loyal to the managerialist philosophy and anxious to impose it on the institution.

The Health Reforms (and the Blitzkreig)

This entry was posted in Health on by .

Chapter 9 of The Commercialisation of New Zealand

Keywords: Health;

Undoubtedly there was at the end of the 1980s a widespread perception that there was a problem with the health system, although in retrospect this seems to have been a grumbling rather than a deep discontent. When the reforms were being put in place the public indicated they were more satisfied with the existing structures than their earlier surveys has shown. Every health system in the world appears to beset with difficulties, which ought to be a warning to reformers that there are no easy solutions.

The Growing Up Of the Unions

This entry was posted in Labour Studies on by .

Appendix to Chapter 7 of The Commercialisation of New Zealand

Keywords: Labour Studies;

The union movement will think of itself as largely marginalized by and marginally involved in the commercialization shift. This appendix explores another story: one which advocates of the reforms should be keen to point out. All institutions find it very difficult to reform themselves. Genuine institutional reform involves some external pressure. This is the case study of the union experience, but there are numerous others including the corporatization of state owned enterprises (Chapter 1).

GLOSSARY OF TERMS IN SOCIAL COST ESTIMATION OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

This entry was posted in Health on by .

This was published as an appendix to E. Single, D. Collins, B. Easton, H. Harwood, H. Lapsley, & A. Maynard (& R. Bowie) (1997) International Guidelines for Estimating the Costs of Substance Abuse (Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse)   Keywords: Health   Forward Each discipline has its own terminology. In an growing interdisciplinary area as…
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In the Dark: The State Of Research into the Economy Is an Embarrassment

This entry was posted in Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on by .

Listener28 June, 1997.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

The economy seems to have been in a growth slowdown. It is not easy to tell its current state because the data is incomplete. But as best can be judged, the upswing phase of the business cycle following the long recession of the late 1980s is over, and the economy is now expanding at a modest rate. The upswing was heralded by ideologues as a permanent and sustainable. The more cautious commentators recognised that this was a cyclical recovery, and economic growth would then slow down. It has. What does that tell us about the long term prospects of the economy?

Globalization and Local Cultures: an Economist’s Perspective.

This entry was posted in Globalisation & Trade, Literature and Culture on by .

In J. Davey (ed) Globalisation and Local Cultures: Emerging Issues for the 21st Century, the proceedings of a seminar is sponsored by the Federation of New Zealand Social Science Organisations, the Royal Society of New Zealand, and the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. 27 June, 1997. p.20-27.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Literature and Culture;

Globalization might be justified by David Ricardo’s pregnant insight of 150 years ago, that it may be in the material interests of a region or country to withdraw from producing a product where it had an absolute advantage in production, in order to produce another commodity for which it had a comparative advantage. By trading the comparative advantage commodity to another region or country in exchange for the other commodity, both benefit. This suggests regions or nations will become increasingly specialized in the production of products which can be traded, presaging the globalization of the world economy which has been evolving since the nineteenth century, if not earlier.

Up in Smoke, Down the Drain: How Tobacco Use and Alcohol Abuse Cost Us $39b

This entry was posted in Health on by .

Listener 21 June, 1997.

Keywords Health

New figures released this week indicate that tobacco and alcohol abuse cost the nation far more than hitherto thought. In my report The Social Costs of Tobacco Use and Alcohol Misuse, I estimate that the abuse of licit drugs costs the nation $38.6b(illion) in 1990. Some $22.5b is attributable to the costs of the use of tobacco, while $16.1b arises from the misuse of alcohol.

Money Speaks: The Information Battle Is Now Fought in the Market Place

This entry was posted in Business & Finance, Listener on by .

Listener: 14 June,1997.

Keywords: Business & Finance; Literature and Culture;

Once it was “knowledge is power”, so the powerful kept the knowledge from the populace. Integral to the evolution of democracy was the making available of that information to everyone. Perhaps the high point was the 1982 Official Information Act (OIA), which makes it much easier to find out what the government is doing – or not doing.

Team Spirit: Has MMP Ended the Dominance Of Cabinet?

This entry was posted in Governance, Listener on by .

Listener: 31 May, 1997.

Keywords: Governance;

The view which blames all our current political and government difficulties on MMP cannot be correct. MMP is a method for electing members of parliament. How they behave is a result of the arrangements within Parliament House, not who gets elected. We may not even be able to blame MMP for coalition government. National won only 30 of the 65 electorate seats. Even increasing that by 2 to allow for the Wellington seats from which it tactically retreated, National would still have won less that half the electorate seats. So probably under a FPP election National would still have formed a coalition government with New Zealand First which won 6 electorate seats.

Regarding Henry:

This entry was posted in Listener, Political Economy & History on by .

The Absolutely First-Rate Refugee who was the Maker of the Modern Treasury.

Listener 17 May, 1997.

Keywords: Political Economy & History;

Henry Lang (1919-1997)

The refugees who fled the tyranny of Central Europe in the 1930s benefited New Zealand’s cultural, intellectual, and government life far in proportion to their small numbers. Examples range from architect Ernst Plishke to his stepson Heinrich Lang, who became Secretary of the Treasury, and contributed much else besides.

Accounting for a Difference: How Should We Judge Jeff Chapman?

This entry was posted in Governance, Listener on by .

Listener May 3, 1997.

Keywords: Governance

In 1978 the then Auditor General, Fred Shailes, publicly complained about the antiquated state of the nation’s public sector accounting. A younger man in the Audit Office, Jeff Chapman, seized the initiative by persuading the Society of Accountants to establish a committee to develop new standards for accounting in central and local government. …

Callovers, Chalkies & Chips:

This entry was posted in Business & Finance, Globalisation & Trade, Listener on by .

Once Upon A Time You Could See the Stock Market.
Listener: 19-26? April, 1997.

Keywords: Business & Finance; Globalisation & Trade;

While economists talk about “markets”, and business commentators personify them, it is rare to be able to see one as they are described in the textbooks. The stock market, which buys and sells company shares once had such a visible presence. David Grant’s book Bulls, Bears, and Elephants: A History of the New Zealand Stock Exchange is rich with stories of share market dealing – not all of which were honourable. It also pictures the stock market through time.

Health Disservice:

This entry was posted in Health, Listener on by .

We Spend More on Health Care. Where Has it All Gone?
Listener: 12 April, 1997.

The great twentieth philosopher, Karl Popper advised scientists to be aware of how the scientific problem with which they are concerned changes over time. The same applies to policy advisers. Policy problems change, so the unaware adviser or politician may be trying to resolve an outdated issue.

Was There a Treaty Of Waitangi?: Was It a Social Contract?

This entry was posted in History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy, Maori, Political Economy & History on by .

A revised version of ‘Was There a Treaty of Waitangi, and was it a Social Contract?’ Archifacts, April 1997, p.21-49.

Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Maori; Political Economy & History;

This paper arose out of consideration of what at first seemed to be a very straightforward problem.[1] In 1989 I was working with the Maori claims in regard to the broadcasting reforms.[2] I have told much of that elsewhere,[3] but the matter led to an investigation of the origins of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, in order to understand the entitlements to the property rights of the radio frequency spectrum by the Maori and by the Crown.