Author Archives: Brian Easton

Anything They Can Do …

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Economic Reform is Possible Without Savaging the Welfare State

Listener: 2 September, 1995.

Keywords: Social Policy;

Prime Minister Paul Keating has an almost mythical reputation. As Treasurer (the Australian Minister of Finance) he presided over a major transformation of economic structure while the Australian economy continued to prosper. More recently he led his Labor Party into a “can’t win” election, and won it handsomely. While he is not popular because of his personal arrogance and an acerbic tongue, he can be proud of his government’s accomplishments.

Parity and Bust: Dollar for Dollar Is Not a Good Deal

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

Listener: 19 August, 1995.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

The proposal for “parity parties” when the New Zealand dollar equals the Australian dollar in market value is typical of the bizarre economic thinking by some in the financial sector. The last time parity was attained was in November 1967. Since then consumer prices have risen 12.8 times (i.e. 1180 percent) in New Zealand, while they have risen 8.1 times in Australia. While the consumer price index is not a perfect measure of inflation, the gap between our price levels remains substantial. An OECD study in 1990 found the New Zealand dollar could buy the same as 86 Australia cents. Allowing for the differential inflation rates since the figure is probably about 88 cents today.

Muldoon in Fiction: Politicians and Intellectuals

This entry was posted in Literature and Culture, Political Economy & History on by .

This is a revised version of the paper presented to the Stout Research Centre Wednesday Seminar, 9 August, 1995. Other versions are ‘Piggy in the Middle’ Metro August 1996, p.82-7, and ‘Muldoon, Robert’ in R. Robinson & N. Wattie (eds) The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, Auckland, p.384-5.

Keywords: Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History;

Bill Pearson’s 1952 Landfall essay “Fretful Sleepers: A Sketch of New Zealand Behaviour and its Implications for the Artist” argues:

“No people is easier for governing. Though `Hitler’ and `dictator’ are common as terms of abuse (usually applied to a foreman who puts production before sociability) there is a lurking respect for the dictator because he has all the authority and gets things done. When the Upper House went no one cared. It was only workers of the big unions, and the watersiders themselves, who were concerned at Mr Holland’s emergency regulations, and a few intellectuals. Fascism has long been a danger potential in New Zealand. Of course fascism does not just occur: it is a deliberate strategy used by money-makers threatened with social discontent. But in countries nominally democratic, fascists have first to prepare the ground. In New Zealand the ground is already prepared for these conditions: a docile sleepy electorate, veneration of war-heros, a willingness to persecute those who don’t conform, gullibility in the face of headlines and radio peptalks.” (p.3-4) [1]

An Unstable World Economy?

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How Does the State of Major Economies Affect Us?

Listener: 5 August, 1995.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

The world economy is not in robust state. Some of leading commentators are muttering about the fragility of the Japanese economy and stagnation in the US one. There is usually one major economy which is worrying, but my concerns here are more about the fundamentals, most notably the very high world real interest rates.

Working with the Maori: Consultancy, Research, Friendship.

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics, Maori, Political Economy & History, Social Policy on by .

Seminar presentation at the NZIER, 2 August, 1995.

Keywords: Distributional Economics; Maori; Political Economy & History; Social Policy;

The seminar is the result of an invitation by the director of the NZIER, John Yeabsley, to describe some of my work with the Maori, especially in terms of the challenges I have experienced as a research economist and social statistician. The material presented here is primarily that which is on public record. Some confidential work is omitted. However while it is of interest and has been challenging, the work broadly covers the same areas as are in my public record. Some very small projects are also omitted.

Properly Assessing Income Adequacy in New Zealand

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics on by .

New Zealand Economic Papers, August 1995, p.89-101.(1)

Kewords: Distributional Economics;

Abstract: This paper is a response to “Assessing Income Adequacy in New Zealand”, by Edith Brashares. Despite the paper’s claim to involve “empirical” assessment, her methods rely primarily on not very plausible assumptions. This paper reviews them, reaffirms the main New Zealand development of the assessment of income adequacy which the original paper all but ignored, and concludes with a brief discussion on the role of introspective analysis in economic science and social policy.

Women in Economics

This entry was posted in History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy, Listener on by .

Listener: 24 June, 1995 Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Post-modernism is a term which has entered into intellectual discourse over the last quarter of a century. Initially it referred to architecture, went into the other arts and literature, and more recently sneaked into some of the social sciences. Because of its individualistic and…
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The Post-war Welfare State

This entry was posted in Social Policy on by .

Revised version of Address in the University of Auckland Winter Lecture Series, 20 June 1995, published in Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, Issue 7, December 1996, p. 17-28.[1]

The modern welfare state developed in most rich countries in the post-war era. It was a response to three major trauma. First, there was the interwar depression, in which the brutality of unconstrained capitalism generated a response of a kinder, gentler way of organizing society. Second the war itself led to upheaval in many European countries. The welfare state was seen as a means of integrating the people back into the nations struggling with the chaos of their recent past, in order to generate a degree of social cohesiveness. Third, but by no means least, industrial society was sweeping away the old forms of community provision.

Divided Issues: the Myth Of the Unified Maori.

This entry was posted in Maori on by .

Listener 10 June 1995.

Keywords: Maori

Our race relations are troubled by the Pakeha myth of the unified Maori. “Maori” did not exist before the arrival of the European. Since as far as they knew those that lived here were all the people in the world, they did not need a collective name for themselves. (Similarly “Earthling” arose with possibility of others out in space).

A Data Base Of Iwi

This entry was posted in Maori, Statistics on by .

Report for The Waitangi Tribunal (May 1995)

keywords: Maori; Statistics

The Data Base

Every individual living in New Zealand on the night of 5 March 1991, filled in a census form, which included a question about iwi membership.[1] Some 511,278 respondents (15.2 percent of the national total) gave a positive answer, of some form, to this question.[2] In addition 165,913 households (14.1 percent of the national total) were classified as Maori dwelling households with an iwi identification.

This computer program provides socioeconomic information about those respondents, and their households grouped together by iwi. (It does not hold unit data records.) The following is a description of the contents of the program, and the means of accession to the data. It should be emphasized that the access protocols are not simple, because as explained below, there are some restrictions on access. In addition there are numerous caveats which should be taken into consideration when obtaining and interpreting the data.

As Good As Gould

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Inflation Fighters Need To Define Their Target

Listener: 4 March 1995

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

The debate about whether inflation is the appropriate target of monetary policy is bedeviled by there being no rigorous definition of inflation. When most prices are increasing at 20 percent a year, there is no trouble at saying that there is inflation. But when some prices are increasing at 2 percent, some at 4 percent, and some are declining, the issue of whether the economy is inflating is much more equivocal. A price change index can be defined to be the rate of inflation for practical purposes, but that is not the same thing as a rigorous definition. If one practical purpose differs from another, the index becomes less relevant.

A Quiet Revolutionary: Eru Woodbine Pomare: 1942-1995

This entry was posted in Health, Maori on by .

He Worked for the Health of all New Zealanders
Listener: 18 February, 1995.

Keywords: Health; Maori;

Eru Pomare, who died suddenly in January, had an impressive whakapapa. A great-great grandmother, Kahe Te Rau O Te Rangi, was one of the few women to sign the Treaty of Waitangi; another, Maora Pani, saw a Captain Cook arrive; his grandfather, Sir Maui Pomare, a doctor and MP, was central to the first Maori health revolution at the turn of the century, which saw a dying race recover in vigour and numbers; his grandmother, Lady Miria Woodbine Pomare, who had a major influence on his life, deserved her own entry in The Book of New Zealand Women, the entry being written by her most eminent grandchild.

The Fallacy Of the Equity Vs Efficiency Tradeoff.

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics, History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy, Social Policy on by .

This is an elaboration of a note I prepared in February 1995.

Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Social Policy;

It is much easier to claim there is an equity-efficiency tradeoff, than to demonstrate that there is not, since the terms being used may have a meanings different from conventional usage, so the critic is reduced to chasing ill defined chameleon like ideas.