Review in ‘Newsroom’ 9 May, 2023 In 1972, The New Zealand Journal of History published the article “Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Texts and Translations” by Ruth Ross (1920-1982). Its impact continues 50 years later, and is likely to remain significant in another 50 years. It’s one of the most influential pieces of work by a…
Continue reading this entry »
Working Paper for New Zealand Productivity Commission Introduction Unexpected shocks to the New Zealand economy are endemic. The numerous small ones have been dealt with by the local initiatives inherent in the market economy and by common sense. However, there are a few big shocks where national action has been necessary. Sometimes those actions have…
Continue reading this entry »
Thursday 24 November The Commission’s report on the seminar is here. It includes the my overheads which accompanied the presentation. Introduction I have been commissioned to prepare a report for the New Zealand Productivity Commission’s inquiry into economic resilience. The purpose of the report is threefold: 1. to describe how New Zealand has attempted to…
Continue reading this entry »
Anderton: His Life and Times, by David Grant. (Te Herenga Waka Press) Published in READINGROOM Book of the Week: Oh, Jim. On Jim Anderton, the best PM we never had (October 27 2022). Despite the country being dominated by dreary politicians, two of the most charismatic of the last fifty years did not quite make…
Continue reading this entry »
Waikato Times May 21 2022 The University of Waikato made an inspired choice when it appointed Ian Pool to a chair in sociology in 1978. Strictly, he was not a sociologist. His masters degree had been in geography at the Auckland University College; his 1964 PhD in Demography was at the Australian National University under…
Continue reading this entry »
This is adapted from a section of book, ‘In Open Seas’, which I am writing. I have published this extract because there has been some ahistoric claims about the characteristics of New Zealand’s public income support system. The 1972 Royal Commission on Social Security (the ‘McCarthy Commission’) pointed out that there was a case for…
Continue reading this entry »
Jasfest, 7 December 2021 I apologise for not presenting this short tribute to Jas. I have had a tumour removed from my larynx. The prognosis is good, but it will take some time for my voice to recover sufficiently to be able to make presentations. I want to talk about Jas as a macroeconomist, but…
Continue reading this entry »
New Zealand International Review November/December 2021 Vol 46, No 6 p.26-7. LABOUR SAVING: A Memoir by Michael Cullen (Allen and Unwin, Auckland, 432pp, $50) In the 40 years since Muldoon’s reign, the predominant form of national political leadership has been a dual premiership in which, broadly, the prime minister manages the politics and the co-premier…
Continue reading this entry »
Conversations about our country with Jim Bolger: David Cohen (Massey University Press, Auckland, 287pp, $45.) NZ International Review (September/October 2021) p.29-31 James Brendan Bolger presents a paradox. When he became prime minister, a Tom Scott cartoon presented him as a kind of Forrest Gump; in 2017 he outshone his other three panellists: Helen Clark, Geoffrey…
Continue reading this entry »
on Not In Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand 21 April, 2021 The most important thing I want to say today is to thank the Stout Centre for its contribution to Not In Narrow Seas. I had the privilege of a Stout Fellowship for a year which was crucial in the writing…
Continue reading this entry »
Presentation to a Statistics New Zealand Seminar, 23 February, 2021. Māori involvement in the economy has been an integral part of New Zealand’s story, even if we ignore the first 500 years when there was only a Māori economy. Unlike many of our histories, Not in Narrow Seas does not. There are about 40,000 words…
Continue reading this entry »
While many readers will say ‘the king is certainly not above the law’, not everyone believes that, especially if they are in power. The term ‘democracy’ is complicated and often used misleadingly. For instance, the ‘German Democratic Republic’ (a.k.a. East Germany), which was a part of the Soviet Empire, had one male in four reporting…
Continue reading this entry »
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways. The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views of Robert Muldoon, prime…
Continue reading this entry »
Michael Reddell. ‘Not in Narrow Seas’, Croaking Cassandra, May 30, 2020. Brian Fallow: ‘Progress of NZ Economy Has Been a Rocky Road’ Herald, 20 June 2020. Joan Druett: ‘Not in Narrow Seas’, World of the Written Word. 21 June 2020. Shamubeel Eaqub: ‘Brian Easton Will Now Harrumph’, Newsroom, July 2, 2020 Max Harris: ‘Book Review…
Continue reading this entry »
Watchdog 155 December 2020, p.80-85. Brian Easton has been researching the New Zealand economy for about 60 years. He writes that the pre-sent analysis is offered as a summary of his life’s work. By focussing on the economy, Easton wants to emphasise that it is how people earn a living that shapes social relations. As…
Continue reading this entry »
New Zealand International Review, January/February 2021 Vol 46, No 1: p.28-29 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, 321pp, £20) The outcome of a long war is usually determined by the economic strength of the combatants. But how to present this in a lively and interesting way — battles are so much more engaging? Alan Bollard successfully…
Continue reading this entry »
Review of “Not in Narrow Seas”
New Zealand Journal of International Affairs, November/December, Vol 46, No 6, p.28. Not in Narrow Seas makes an important contribution to the history of New Zealand centred on the economy. Brian Easton sees the economy as near the heart of any society for, as he argues, ‘it produces the goods and services that sustain the…
Continue reading this entry »
Presentation to the Wellington South Rotary Club, November 4, 2020