The Whitehouse recently released a document titled: Make America Healthy Again. The health trends listed are stark – and the needed solutions are clear (even if is going to be like doing an Aircraft Carrier doing a u-turn in the Suez Canal). In many of the crisis stats NZ is not far behind. These are […]
A hugely important document for NZ to learn from.
A hugely important document for NZ to learn from.
07 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, health economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Ardern: If she insists on being remembered, I will oblige
06 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
One thing children who get murdered never seem short of is names. The latest example is Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene, the four-year-old Kaikohe child who recently met a violent death. Late 2023 it was Taita toddler, Ruthless-Empire Souljah Reign Rhind Shephard Wall. Or in 2016, 14 week-old Richard Royal Orif Takahi Winiata Uddin. Examples abound.What…
Ardern: If she insists on being remembered, I will oblige
Productivity growth languishing
05 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economic growth, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand

I hadn’t had a look for a while at the OECD labour productivity (real GDP per hour worked) data, but the release of the latest OECD Economic Outlook the other day prompted me to spend some time in the (less user-friendly than it was) OECD database. It takes a while for all the data to […]
Productivity growth languishing
The Ultra Vires Reach of the Resource Management Act: Te Tiriti Obligations, Private Citizens, and the Erosion of Legal Boundaries
05 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Zoran Rakovic writes – This essay argues that the New Zealand government has acted ultra vires by interpreting and applying the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) in ways that impose Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations upon private citizens and resource consent applicants without express statutory authority or due compensation. The practice violates foundational principles of […]
The Ultra Vires Reach of the Resource Management Act: Te Tiriti Obligations, Private Citizens, and the Erosion of Legal Boundaries
Labour’s first and most urgent mission is to knock Te Pāti Māori out of the race
05 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Chris Trotter writes – “Your mission, Mr Hipkins, should you choose to accept it, is to lead Labour to victory in 2026.” Except, as always, the drama of a Mission Impossible movie lies not in the what, but in the how. Of course Chris Hipkins is willing to lead Labour to a win. The real question is […]
Labour’s first and most urgent mission is to knock Te Pāti Māori out of the race
Again, There is No Right to a Stable Climate
04 Jun 2025 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, resource economics Tags: climate activists, climate alarmism, nuisance suits

Announced this week was this from Inside Climate News: Trump Executive Orders Violate Young People’s Rights to a Stable Climate, a Lawsuit Alleges. Excerpts in italics with my bolds. Twenty-two young people from across the country sued the Trump administration over the executive orders, which prioritize the expansion of fossil fuels. The complaint, filed Thursday […]
Again, There is No Right to a Stable Climate
RIF Rift: Trump Administration Asks Court to Enjoin San Francisco Judge
03 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

As we continue to await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the national or universal injunction question, the Trump administration has filed another request to block a district court order that prevents it from implementing a “reduction-in-force” policy. The request in Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees could have major implications for other such orders even […]
RIF Rift: Trump Administration Asks Court to Enjoin San Francisco Judge
Advertising for a Governor
03 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy

If you want to be Reserve Bank Governor, think you have what it takes, (and haven’t yet been approached by the Board’s recruitment company) you will need to get moving. Applications close on Friday. As a reminder, much of the process (unusually by international standards) is controlled by the Bank’s Board, most of whom were […]
Advertising for a Governor
SCOTUS Slaps Down Green Overreach: 8-0 Ruling Frees Infrastructure from NEPA Shackles
03 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, law and economics, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice
he fact that the project might foreseeably lead to the construction or increased use of a separate project does not mean the agency must consider that separate project’s environmental effects
SCOTUS Slaps Down Green Overreach: 8-0 Ruling Frees Infrastructure from NEPA Shackles
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour
02 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
David Seymour said: Not only is our mission fundamentally hard, but sometimes we’ve made it harder than necessary. I hesitate to bring it up, but we’ve burned ourselves on one or two of our own brushfires along the way. Our perk buster took a perk. Our tough on crime guy got convicted. Our leadership had […]
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour
How did the Australian pollsters go?
02 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

Now we have a final result for the Australian election, we can look at how the Australian pollsters did. This shows the primary and then TPP vote for each pollsters’s final pre-election poll. The final TPP result of 55.2% to 44.8% was greater than all the polls. Four had it 53 to 47, so were […]
How did the Australian pollsters go?
Counting the Cost
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, gender, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, gender wage gap, sex discrimination
For all the gravitas which Dame Marilyn’s involvement has conferred upon PSCPE, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that it represents a deliberate attempt to morally overpower what is now the law of the land. Chris Trotter writes – The People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity (PSCPE) is looking for evidence. […]
Counting the Cost
Bill Maher’s latest rule
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - USA, television, TV shows
Here’s the latest comedy/news stint from Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show, a “New Rule” segment called “Freak-end update”, referring of course to Diddy’s “Freak offs,” his drug-fueled sex orgies often involving prostitutes. Diddy is very likely to be convicted (you’ve seen the tape, right?), and it will be a huge come-down from his status as […]
Bill Maher’s latest rule
San Diego State University Professor Celebrates Israeli Being Eaten by Shark
01 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: free speech, Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, political correctness, regressive left

A San Diego State University professor is under fire this week after celebrating the death of a former Israeli soldier who was eaten by a shark. Chicano studies Professor Roberto Hernández joyfully reported the death and mocked the victim as others joined him in the macabre celebration.
San Diego State University Professor Celebrates Israeli Being Eaten by Shark
MPC members speaking
31 May 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy

In both The Post and the Herald this morning there are reports of interviews with executive members of the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee: the Bank’s chief economist Paul Conway in The Post and his boss, and the deputy chief executive responsible for monetary policy and macroeconomics, Karen Silk in the Herald. In a high-performing […]
MPC members speaking
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