There are at least three good reasons that the restructuring of our largest city will fail. Listener: 25 July, 2009. Keywords: Governance; Growth & Innovation; Author Bruce Jesson once said New Zealand was a “hollow society”. He meant that although we had a central government and individuals, the social institutions between them…
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Paper to the 50th Anniversary Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists: 1 July, 2009: Wellington. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Statistics; This paper looks only at the first 25 years of the New Zealand research program on economic growth. It focuses on the empirical analysis but refers…
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If it weren’t for good old chemistry, where would New Zealand be? Listener: 24 January, 2009 A background to this column is ‘My (Almost) Chemical Career’ at http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=1541 Keywords: Education; Growth & Innovation; I almost became a chemist. In the upper forms at Christchurch Boys’ High School I had an inspiring chemistry teacher, Alan Wooff….
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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?…
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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…
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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…
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What the electoral economic debate is really about. Listener: 9 August 2008. Keywords: Distributional Economics; Growth & Innovation; Although the rhetoric of economic debate is about accelerating economic growth, the reality of politics is mainly about redistributing income. Merrill Lynch told the Australian insurance industry it would make a $200 million…
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Presentation to a Union Gathering: July 2, 2008 Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation; Political Economy & History; Central to policy is that there are always new forces which are requiring to adapt policies to new circumstances – what may be called ‘ongoing modernisation’. There are three major sources of these forces. …
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Are journalists making the economic situation seem worse? Listener 31 May, 2008 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Statistics; What is happening to journalism? You will recall that, last year, journalists campaigned for tax cuts based on a total misunderstanding of the Government accounts. They used the wrong measure of the Budget surplus, which…
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Why we rate poorly in the OECD’s output-per-person stakes. Listener: 17 May, 2008 Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Suppose your car goes slower than anyone else’s. What would you think if your mechanic said, “Get a new driver”, or “It should be painted red”, or “It needs a better carburettor” without first putting his head under…
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Revised Paper for a Seminar, 15 May 2008 Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Statistics; I have been asked to make a few remarks on research into economic growth in New Zealand. Let me begin with some preliminaries. Policy I am going to avoid suggesting any policy conclusions which might follow from the…
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This note was prepared for some colleagues. Keywords: Distributional Economics; Growth & Innovation; Th phrase ‘hollowing out’ is often used to cover a multitude of poorly thought through ideas which have lots of rhetoric but perhaps not much intellectual content. Here I am going to try to give the notion some analytical rigour…
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Presented to the Stout Research Centre ‘Research Roundup’ 17 October 2007 Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Invited to contribute to this Stout Centre Research Roundup, I was torn between telling you about the project I am working on, and the one which I have just…
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I prepared this note on 2 October, 2007, for some colleagues, following a discussion on the relevance of GDP targets. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; As far as I know the only government reference to getting back into the top half of the OECD on a GDP per capita basis is in the Growing…
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In September 2008 (16-18) I attended a Wellcome Trust sponsored conference in York England on the value of science education. We were invited to submit comments. Below is mine. Keywords: Education; Growth & Innovation; Dear Conference Delegates, You invited comments coming out of the conference. The following is a short one. …
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One small voyage for a ship, one giant leap for New Zealand. Listener: 2 June 2007. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation; Political Economy & History; This month, 125 years ago in 1882, the Dunedin docked at the Port of London with a cargo of meat from New Zealand that sold…
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Keywords: Education; Governance; Growth & Innovation; The judges of a singing contest, dissatisfied with the first diva, awarded the prize to the second without having heard her. The favouring of commercialisation in the late 1980s and early 1990s had a similar empirical base. We have now heard the second diva, and while she has…
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Commentary on “Forging a Kiwi Economic Identity through Economic Transformation” by Trevor Mallard, Policy Quarterly, Volume 3, No 1, 2007. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; This paper responds to the Minister’s paper by providing a context in which the government’s economic transformation agenda operates. It argues that it is not a plan but a…
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Tiny Loans Are Making A Huge Difference for Some of the World’s Poorest Peoples Listener: 6 January, 2007. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money; The Nobel Memorial Prize in economics was founded by the Bank of Sweden in 1979. Economists have only been tangentially involved in Alfred Nobel’s much older awards for achievements which…
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The Rugby World Cup presents a challenge to Auckland’s governance. Listener: 7 October, 2006. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation; The Auckland economy has been performing badly over the past few decades, partly because of the policies of the 1980s and 1990s, partly because of the failure to build adequate infrastructure. But the region’s…
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