Category Archives: History of Ideas, Methodology, Philosophy
Good and Faithful Servant: Jas McKenzie 1939-2020
Policy Quarterly Vol 16 No 3 (2020) p.79-80. The earliest assessment of Jas that I recall is that he was ‘New Zealand’s John Stone’, referring to a towering secretary of the Australian Treasury. When I told Jas this, he was appalled because their political views were very different. I explained that the comparison arose because…
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Entering a Post-literacy World
Unlike in some other places, the New Zealand Government decided that books were not essential goods and closed all bookshops during Alert Level 4. Even during Alert Level 3 you can only buy books online.
What Happened to Egalitarian New Zealand?
Bob Scott Lecture Series on Inequality, 25 June 2019. (See also Have We Abandoned the Egalitarian Society?) What I want to do this evening is examine egalitarianism. In particular, New Zealand is a less egalitarian society today than it was when I was growing up in the 1950s. Why? How? The structure of the paper…
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What is Meant by Wellbeing?
A discussion on ‘Nights’ with Bryan Crump. 28 May, 2019 The audio is here. See also here.
Obituary: Ian Francis Shirley
Ian Shirley (28 February 1940 – 20 January 2019) This obituary was first published in “The Policy Observatory” which Ian founded New Zealand’s progressive causes have been driven by a strong sense of social justice. Ian Shirley was one of the nation’s strongest drivers. He was born in Kaiapoi and spent his early years in…
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NEW ZEALAND’S 9/11: UNITY IN DIVERSITY
This was submitted to an American publication but not published.) On 15 March, 2019, a gunman entered Masjid Al Noor, a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, during prayer time, and fired a semiautomatic rifle adapted to shoot continuously. He then went to a second mosque a few miles away, shooting people there too. Altogether 50…
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Paper to the Fabian Society, 12 October, 2016 While we continue to chew over the carcass of the Fourth Labour Government – the Lange-Douglas one – we pay little attention to the subsequent Fifth Labour Government. Yet the Clark-Cullen one is greatly shaping the current Labour Opposition and the current National Government. It will,…
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(William) KEITH EASTON: 18 August 1944 – 26 April 2016
(William) KEITH EASTON: 18 August 1944 – 26 April 2016 When I was about 12, the family was hit by a virus which made us lackadaisical and sleepy. I recall that on the afternoon it impacted on me, I struggled to meet my raspberry picking quota. Keith, 17 months younger, went down for a week….
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ARE NEW ZEALAND ECONOMISTS GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
The Secretary of the Treasury appears to have doubts. Pundit: 24 November, 2014. Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; In a speech to economics teachers earlier this month, the Secretary of the Treasury, Gabriel Makhlouf, argued for a different approach to economics from the one which dominates the profession in New…
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DOES PIKETTY MATTER?
Thomas Piketty says economic inequality has been getting greater in the world, and will get greater. What about New Zealand? Pundit: 28 October, 2014 Keywords: Distributional Economics; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Paul Krugman has said “Thomas Piketty has transformed our economic discourse; we’ll never talk about wealth and inequality the…
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THE RIGHT TO DISSENT by Jack Shallcrass
Jack Shallcrass died on the 13 August, 2014 at the age of 91. Many years earlier in 1965 – he was 42 and I 21 – he spoke at the University of Curious Cove. His lecture, ‘The Right to Dissent’ greatly influenced my thinking. Its themes of the central role of dissent in a civilised…
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THE PURPOSE OF ECONOMIC POLICY
Published as a briefing paper: 13 May, 2014 (A service being provided by AUT) http://briefingpapers.co.nz/ Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; The annual May budget is a public spectacle. The Minister of Finance is photographed holding aloft a copy of his speech while those from political parties and sectors dominate media discussions…
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Growing Pains
As our main indicator of economic growth, GDP has major limitations. Listener: 30 January, 2014. Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Political Economy & History; The expectation is for normal economic growth in the coming year. The economy peaked in September 2007 and stagnated (in per-capita terms) through to March…
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Poor Show
Why it has taken so long for child poverty to become part of the conventional wisdom. Listener: 16th January, 2014 Keywords: Distributional Economics; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Social Policy; Corso, the Council of Organisations for Relief Services Overseas, decided in 1979 that it was wrong to ignore poverty in New…
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MYTH, POLITICIANS AND MARKETS:
The Truth Behind the Free Market by Bryan Gould (Macmillan, $54.95) This review was commissioned by ‘The Listener’ but not used Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Political Economy & History; The dominant public narrative has a vision of business and the market as progressive forces, held back by unnecessary interventions from politicians and…
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The Archbishop and the Economist
St Andrew’s Trust for the Study of Religion and Society 24 October, 2013 Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Those who founded this venerable church, more than 160 years ago, might be a little disturbed that the Archbishop of Canterbury should be introduced into it. However my intention is not so much…
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The Austerian Economists’ Error
The Austerian Economists’ Error In the battle of opinions for managing sluggish economies, rhetoric often misrepresents the research. Listener: 13 June, 2013 Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Macroeconomics & Money; The right response to high unemployment and lethargic economic activity is to cut back government spending, according to “Austerians”, whose…
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Our Muslim Neighbours
Indonesian Muslims don’t necessarily support the opinions and actions of Middle Eastern Muslims. Listener: 8 June, 2013 Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History; I once flew from Dublin to Vienna – both Catholic but with very different atmospheres. The distance from Mecca to Jakarta…
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Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow, Thinking Moral
Presentation to the Ephesus Group, Wellington; 19 May, 2013. Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; I want to start a conversation which I hope will not end tonight. Instead I hope that many of you will go home and read the books on which the conversation is founded and continue it from…
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