Category Archives: Regulation & Taxation

Economic Instruments for the Regulation Of Licit Drugs

This entry was posted in Health, Regulation & Taxation on 25th November 1991 by Brian Easton.

Paper for the Perspectives for Change Conference, sponsored by the New Zealand Drug Foundation and the Alcohol Liquor Advisory Council, 25-27 November, 1991.

Keywords Health, Taxation & Regualtion

This paper does not pursue the ‘why’ or ‘whether’ policy issues of the additional regulation of licit drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, except insofar as that is relevant to the ‘how’ of regulation. The paper focuses on only one aspect of the how, the use of ‘economic instruments’ of regulation.

How Fair Is a Flat Tax?

This entry was posted in Distributional Economics, Listener, Regulation & Taxation on 23rd January 1988 by Brian Easton.

Listener: 23 January, 1988 (Edited for length) Keywords: Distributional Economics; Regulation & Taxation; What is a flat tax on incomes? Income taxes are imposed on different categories of incomes at different rates. For instance, under the regime introduced in October 1986, at the same time the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced, the first…
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Valuing a Good Time, Dearie

This entry was posted in Listener, Regulation & Taxation on 30th May 1987 by Brian Easton.

Listener 30 May 1987.

Keywords: Regulation & Taxation;

I imagine that somewhere in the megaliths near the Beehive there is a memorandum advocating the decriminalisation of prostitution. It probably starts with the “general principle” that there should be no artificial barriers to the entry or exit of firms to the industry in New Zealand.

Some More Equal Than Others

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener, Regulation & Taxation on 15th February 1986 by Brian Easton.

Listener 15 February, 1986.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Regulation & Taxation;

The incoming Labour Government inherited an extraordinary array of government “assistance” to industry. Very often, however, assistance to one industry is to the detriment of another.

The Error with Era

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener, Regulation & Taxation on 1st February 1986 by Brian Easton.

Listener 1 February, 1986.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Regulation & Taxation;

The study called The Structure of Industry Assistance in New Zealand: An Exploratory Analysis and known as the Syntec Report (Treasury, $10) cost the taxpayer around $100,000. That seems a good reason to write about it.

Controlling the Market

This entry was posted in Listener, Regulation & Taxation on 18th February 1984 by Brian Easton.

Listener: 18 February, 1984 Keywords: Regulation & Taxation; The current debate about controls and the market is not merely a question of ideology. Underlying it are analytic propositions about how markets work. Consider an uncontrolled market which settles on a price of $1 a unit at which suppliers sell 1000 units weekly and buyers purchase…
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The Lost Fortnight

This entry was posted in Health, Regulation & Taxation on 11th March 1978 by Brian Easton.

Listener: 11 March, 1978, republished in Economics for New Zealand Social Democrats.

Keywords: Health; Regulation & Taxation;

Note: The numbers in this column are out of date, but the sentiment remains true.

‘The trouble with New Zealand,’ he said as he leaned on the bar, ‘is that we have far too many scrounging on the state.’

I had heard it all before, and was absent-mindedly gazing at the jugs of beer in front of him. A variety of news items flitted through my mind. The traffic officer who thought half the accidents he attended involved a drunken driver. The Auckland policeman who said nights were easy while the beertanker drivers were on strike. The orthopedic surgeon whose ward is 60 per cent full of the consequences of accidents involving alcohol. The hospital which has 25 per cent of its non-geriatric beds filled with patients directly suffering from the abuse of alcohol. The 53,000 New Zealanders who are alcoholics. The half a million New Zealanders who have a close friend or relation who is a liquor addict. The loss of production from hangovers and deteriorated performance from drinking is over eight times the loss of production from industrial disputes.