Category Archives: Social Policy

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy?

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Labour Studies, Listener, Macroeconomics & Money, Social Policy on by .

Listener 25 February, 1991

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Labour Studies; Macroeconomics & Money; Social Policy;

A popular folk song on US campuses in the late 1960s was Pete Seeger’s “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”. It described how one night an army platoon attempted to ford a swamp-river. The commander said he knew where he was going. It was just a matter of pushing on. Some of his troops were less certain, but were exhorted with such phrases as “don’t be a nervous nellie” and just show a little determination”.

Market Incomes: Their Capacity to Deliver a Living Wage

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics, Social Policy on by .

A paper for the New Zealand Planning Council conference, “The Distribution of Income and Wealth in New Zealand”, by Brian Easton*   Keywords: Distributional Economics; Social Policy;   Probably the first text I ever read as an economics undergraduate was Tjalling Koopmans’ “Three Essays on the State of Economic Science” (1957). The book contains an…
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Economic Liberalisation: Where Do People Fit In?

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

Responding to the Revolution: Careers, culture and Casualties ed. A. von Tunzelmann & J. Johnston, (NZIPA, 1987), being the proceedings of the NZIPA 1987 conference. (pp.85-93)

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

Keynes remarked that practical men (he meant politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen) are but the slaves of some defunct economist, a sentiment that will have been all too apparent over the last few years. Today I want to focus upon some of these defunct economists, to show how economic analysis which is too narrowly directed results in policies for economic change which generate social costs far in excess of any ‘economic’ benefits.

Compensating Factors

This entry was posted in Listener, Social Policy on by .

Listener: 25 April, 1981.

Keywords: Social Policy;

One of the curiosities of the 1970s is that although it was a period of economic stagnation, a number of important innovations were made in the income maintenance area.

The most radical was the introduction of the Accident Compensation Scheme. but others were National Superannuation, the Statutory Domestic Purposes Benefit, income tax rebates for families, and changes removing some of the discrimination against women, Even curiouser, most of these changes occurred under a National Government, which is not normally thought to be especially concerned with social security.

Blood Brotherhood

This entry was posted in Health, Listener, Social Policy on by .

Listener 8 March, 1980.

Keywords: Health; Social Policy;

Legislation passed in 1979 made it illegal to buy or sell human blood, except with the consent of the Minister of Health. Is this not another example of the government over-regulating life? Did not Gerald Ford, ex-president of the United States, part-pay his way through university by selling his blood? Given the miserable level of student bursaries, is the prohibition on selling human blood yet a further attempt to ensure that future New Zealand prime ministers will not have a university education?

What Are Mothers Worth?

This entry was posted in Listener, Social Policy on by .

Listener 17 March, 1979, republished in The Listener Bedside Book 2 (1998) p.209-11.

Keywords: Social Policy;

Sentiment sings that one’s mother is worth more than all the world, but we don’t always follow our singing. Anyway, for social policy purposes we need a more hard-headed assessment of the worth of mothers.

The Economics of Children

This entry was posted in Social Policy on by .

In April 1978 I presented this paper to the Extension Course of the Auckland Primary Principals Association. It was published in “Impact the Burden of Choice”, Volume 14 (pp.17-34). In 2014 the hard copy was converted into an electronic one. Optical Character Readers are not perfect, and Elizabeth Caffin kindly checked the preliminary text. In…
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