As Borders Fall Are Europeans Losing Their Cultural Identity Pundit: 29 December 2014 Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Aside from the English Channel, Europe has hardly any significant internal natural borders. Seventy years ago the border between Germany and Poland was settled at the Oder River. At its main crossing point it is no wider than…
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The EU remains central to New Zealand’s destiny Pundit: 23 December, 2014. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Political Economy & History; Suppose Britain exited the European Union of 28 countries. I am not recommending it; they would probably be worse off economically. Nor am I predicting it, although sometimes politics produces odd outcomes….
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The OECD says yes; how do we respond? Pundit: 15 December, 2014. Keywords: Distributional Economics; Growth & Innovation; A recently released OECD report concludes that economic inequality hurts economic growth, and has particularly done so for New Zealand. Some of our responses were plain bizarre. Either the non-economic commentators had not understood the issue or…
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How much should the state be involved in determining who are in a marriage relationship? Pundit: 12 December, 2014. Keywords: Social Policy; The recently released Child Poverty Action Group’s (CPAG) report on the Complexities of Relationship in the Welfare System and the Consequences for Children tells some ugly stories. Benefit entitlement can depend upon the…
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It is one thing being in Opposition complaining about what has happened in government; it is another thing to have a viable policy. Pundit: 3 December, 2014. Keywords: Political Economy & History; It was unfortunate that the first public issue that Andrew Little had to deal with was the Roger Sutton affair. Here was the…
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How New Zealand businesses succeed internationally. Pundit: 30 November, 2014. Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Literature and Culture; One of life’s pleasure is sitting with a child on one’s lap reading a book to them: attractive – sometimes mysterious – illustrations, humorous – even mischievous – plots, rhythmic sentences and just enough eccentric…
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How economists think about valuing life when allocating resources for healthcare purposes. Pundit: 28 November, 2014 Keywords: Health; A couple of comments to an earlier column asked questions about the quality of life versus the prolongation of life. It might be useful to set out an economic perspective on the broad issue, while acknowledging the…
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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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We should focus more on introducing and adapting the world’s innovations using a skilled workforce. Pundit: 17 November, 2014 Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Labour Studies; Our so called ‘innovation policy’, which is at the heart of the government’s growth strategy – insofar as it has one – seems to be fundamentally flawed….
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The case for raising the age of eligibility for NZS; and how we can do it. Pundit: 17 November, 2014 Keywords: Retirement Policy; I support raising the age of eligibility for NZS but not, primarily, for reasons of fiscal sustainability. Rather it needs to be increased for equity reasons. Longevity is increasing….
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As times goes on the government will spend more on healthcare. That means higher taxes. Is there an alternative? Pundit: 10 November, 2014. Keywords: Health; I was on the Treasury external panel which advised on its last Long Term Fiscal Projections. The great challenges arise from rising demand for government funded services and the aging…
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Every year around 600 New Zealanders are born with a horrible condition because their mothers drank while they were pregnant. Pundit: 10 November, 2014 Keywords: Health; The terms Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and its more extreme form Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) have appeared recently in two news items. In a hearing…
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Sloppy analysis is dividing us into the deserving and undeserving Pundit: 3 November, 2014. Keywords: Distributional Economics; Social Policy; Being no expert on domestic violence, I looked at the Glenn inquiry’s The People’s Report to see what it had to say about causes. I had expected a summary of the research literature…
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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 EU approach in trade deals is likely to protect the right of states to make public policy Pundit: 19 October, 2014. Keywords: Business & Finance; Globalisation & Trade; How can foreign investors in New Zealand be sure that we will treat them fairly? If they are not sure perhaps they…
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The election demonstrated deep divisions. Will the next three years make them worse or help heal the rift? And where will the pressure points be? Pundit: 13 October, 2014. Keywords: Political Economy & History; Will we see New Zealanders marching in the streets during the next three years? I don’t mean protests in which the…
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If National can adapt to change, why can’t Labour? Pundit: 7 October, 2014 Keywords: Political Economy & History; Once upon a time National was a party dominated by farmers and their rural base. Its first townie leader, Sid Holland, had to have a farm bought for him in the 1940s, to maintain…
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If voters can see the commonality between Labour and the Greens, why can’t political analysts? Pundit: 22 September, 2014 Keywords: Political Economy & History; Most political analysis in New Zealand seems trapped in the two-party winner-takes-all world, or perhaps they are numerically challenged by the number which comes after two. Whichever,…
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A softening of the housing market, falling dairy prices and potential weakening of the Chinese economy do not bode well for New Zealand Pundit: 22 September, 2014 Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; There were knowing smiles among economists when earlier this year John Key set the election date a couple of months early….
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On the eve of the election, let’s not forget the influence of ‘dollar-voters’ on the outcome Pundit: 10 September, 2014 Keywords: Political Economy & History; A modern society uses two main ways for regulating its public life; politics and the market. In principle the political ideal is ‘one person, one vote’,…
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