Can an environmentalist focus solely on sustainability or are they drawn into wider issues such has how fairly the material product of the economy is distributed? Perhaps heightened by the leadership contest in the Green Party, there appears to be a debate going on about where environmentalism fits into the political spectrum. I am not…
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The Northland by-election demonstrates we do not have a regional development policy. Should we? What might it look like? The government’s announcement that it would be upgrading ten one-way bridges in Northland was a response inspired by the forthcoming by-election. Whatever the politics, it well illustrated the feeble state of regional development policy in New…
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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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One of the biggest issues missed during the election campaign was the sustainability of National’s economic, environmental and even social policies. So what do you do if the government’s not thinking long-term? Pundit: 29 September, 2014. Keywords: Environment & Resources; Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History; Social Policy; Behavioural economics is…
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The answer to cutting carbon emissions is to wallop shoppers in the wallet. Listener: 24 April, 2014 Keywords: Environment & Resources; Regulation & Taxation; Who pays beer tax? Technically, it is paid to the Government by the brewers. But they pass it on, so ultimately the tax is paid by beer drinkers….
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It’s much easier to be environmentally pure in opposition than in government. Listener: 27 March, 2014 Keywords: Environment & Resources; Political Economy & History; Last year, a blogger argued that the Green Party did not need to engage with business interests while in opposition since whatever it did, it would win no…
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This index, first compiled in January 2013 and subsequently updated, is a list of article on the website which have a substantial content about earthquakes and other natural calamities. They were not a focus until the Canterbury Earthquakes, which I began writing about as “Listener” columns to illustrate general issues. However, they are acquiring a…
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This is an extract from the first chapter of the history book I am writing. In early 1855 there was an earthquake in the centre of Cook Strait, thought to be of a magnitude of about 8.1-8.2, the largest in human memory. [1] (Maori elders said there was no record in their traditions of an…
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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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Science Express: 2 August, 2012; Te Papa Tongarewa. I am writing a history of New Zealand from an economic perspective. It’s about two thirds complete – up to the 1970s, with 250,000 words of text – that is already about three conventionally sized books. Tonight I am going to talk about one aspect of the…
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THE TOO HARD BASKET Listener: 19 January, 2012. Keywords: Environment & Resources; Distributional Economics; Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History; Regulation & Taxation; Social Policy; Every government has issues it hopes will go away. They don’t. Here are some for our one. Our Emissions Trading Scheme is looking like a dog’s breakfast, and/or something…
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Listener: 17 September, 2011. Keywords: Environment & Resources; Governance; The cinema may give a good idea about the sewers of Paris and Vienna, but I have little idea what goes on underneath the city in which I live. I just pull the plug or chain and the waste magically disappears. For the citizens of Christchurch,…
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Making the emissions trading scheme “affordable” may hit future generations hard. Listener: 10 October, 2009. Keywords: Environment & Resources; Distributional Economics; Global warming is a consequence of a market failure: polluters emit chemicals without having to pay the price of their emissions. Some sort of taxation regime would no doubt make the…
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Report prepared for Te Maru o Ngati Rangiwewehi (June 2009) Keywords: Environment & Resources; Maori; Introduction My name is Brian Henry Easton. I am an independent scholar with particular expertise in economics, social statistics and public policy analysis. I hold a D.Sc. from the University of Canterbury and am an adjunct professor at the Institute…
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Statement of Evidence of Brian Henry Easton in an Appeal Under The Resource Management Act 1991 between Margaret and Stephen Thompson Marlborough District Council (Env-2006-WLG-000038) Keywords: Environment & Resources; Regulation & Taxation; Introduction I. My name is Brian Henry Easton. I am an independent scholar with particular expertise in economics, social statistics…
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Revised version of the paper to 7X7 seminar, Wellington, 22 July, 2008 Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; What is the purpose of it all? For 200 years economists have assumed that the more material goods the better, and the purpose of the economy was to supply those goods. The notion that…
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Paper to MSD seminar of the Social Impacts of the Emissions Trading Scheme, Thursday 28 February, 2008. Keywords: Environment & Resources; Thankyou for the invitation to talk today. It is a pleasure to be working again with Computable General Equilibrium Models. In the early 1980s New Zealand was a world leader in CGE…
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This was a draft an affidavit I prepared for the Environment Court. in November 2007. It was rules out as not relevant to the proceedings. It is included here because it shows an ingenious method for valuing physical resources in some instances. Keywords: Environment & Resources; Maori; Introduction My name is Brian…
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