Peter Dunne writes – In 1994 the then Labour Opposition resolved to introduce a new top tax rate of 39 cents in the dollar. The reason for the policy was purely political, not fiscal. Labour was shedding votes to Jim Anderton’s left-wing Alliance at the time and wanted to do something symbolic to staunch the flow. […]
Capital gains tax: how Hipkins has abandoned policy soundness for a symbolic gesture
Capital gains tax: how Hipkins has abandoned policy soundness for a symbolic gesture
01 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, income redistribution, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
Te Pāti Māori’s campaign truck repossessed
28 Oct 2025 1 Comment
Shiny on the outside, rotten at the core
Te Pāti Māori’s campaign truck repossessed
NZ may be on the cusp of another measles outbreak – what happened in 2019 should be a warning
28 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: anti-vaccination movement, vaccines
Anna Howe, Emma Best and Rachel Webb write – The recent confirmation of new measles cases unconnected to international travel suggests the highly contagious disease has likely started spreading through communities, according to Health New Zealand. This is a stark reminder of the pending danger of a larger measles outbreak. To prevent transmission once the measles virus […]
NZ may be on the cusp of another measles outbreak – what happened in 2019 should be a warning
Not bad for first time
26 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
The Post reports: About one in five ACT local candidates won the seats they stand for and party leader David Seymour says he’s happy more weren’t successful because now they can stand to run for Parliament. “In some cases, I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t get elected so we can run them next year,” […]
Not bad for first time
Fall good, faster better
24 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand
Robert MacCulloch isn’t partisan in his political views. He is scathing about Labour and its potential partners and often goes very hard on National and the coalition government. But he’s found some good news: . . The Opposition’s Coalition of Chaos hasn’t come up with one sensible idea since losing power. Now the only brain […]
Fall good, faster better
The cost of turning off gas
23 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand
Labour and Greens want us to run out of gas, having banned future exploration. They think the country can be powered by 100% renewables. One problem is that many New Zealanders have gas powered heating and cooking. So what would be the cost of doing away with gas? We now have an answer with this […]
The cost of turning off gas
The BSA power grab: Post 2
22 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: media bias
Media and Communications Minister, Paul Goldsmith’s handling of the BSA power grab follow 80 years of abysmal leadership by National Party governments re broadcasting, which have consistently betrayed their rhetoric about supporting competition and private enterprise. The National Party Holland/Holyoake government of 1949-1957, did nothing of consequence to roll back the Savage/Fraser Labour governments nationalisation […]
The BSA power grab: Post 2
Devolution and Development
18 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of regulation, labour economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, urban economics Tags: Canada
An interesting research note from Eric Crampton and at the NZ Initiative on the benefits of devolution on development. It details how Canadian First Nations have transformed their economic fortunes and have built thousands of new homes after gaining powers for planning, zoning, tax, and infrastructure finance. A couple of examples: The Squamish Nation’s 6,000-apartment […]
Devolution and Development
State very expensive landlord
17 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, urban economics
A report by the New Zealand Initiative shows that the state is a very expensive landlord: Why does the government need to continue owning or managing more than 77,000 housing units, given its poor track record in this area, especially when state assistance can be provided without extensive government ownership? And why does it not […]
State very expensive landlord
Middle East ceasefire is widely celebrated – but Peters notes that the pro-Palestine protesters have been silent
15 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, laws of war, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: Gaza Strip, Israel, Middle-East politics, regressive left, useful idiots, war against terror
Bob Edlin writes – Come in Chloe and your fellow champions of Palestinian statehood and tell us what you think of happenings in the Middle East in recent days. There was widespread celebration – not only in Israel and Gaza but around the world – of news of a cease-fire and that the hostages taken […]
Middle East ceasefire is widely celebrated – but Peters notes that the pro-Palestine protesters have been silent
How to refute accusations of dictatorial behaviour
13 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
A former vice-president of your party (and son of one of your MPs) says your party is run like a dictatorship. When this accusation is put to the co-leaders, the male co-leader refuses to answer and heads off. He sees the female co-leader is not following him and may be about to answer the question, […]
How to refute accusations of dictatorial behaviour
More judicial activism
11 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, crime and punishment, law and order, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Roger Partridge writes: When Parliament says gang insignia “is forfeited to the Crown,” citizens are entitled to assume those words mean what they say. Yet on 11 August the District Court ruled otherwise. Judge Lance Rowe directed that a Mongrel Mob vest, seized under the Government’s new Gangs Act 2024 and forfeited following a guilty plea, should nevertheless […]
More judicial activism
Te Pāti Māori
10 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
Still the same entitled grifters breaking the rules and achieving nothing
Te Pāti Māori
We do actually have a transformational government
09 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economics of regulation, law and economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Governments of the left like to claim they are transformational, when they’re not. The Ardern Government achieved so little it was the opposite. They used wellbeing as a slogan, and did a couple of disastrous mergers. They spent a lot of money. To be fair the Clark Government did actually achieve some major stuff such […]
We do actually have a transformational government
University of Auckland set to make mandatory “indigeneity” courses optional, as students considered them a waste of time and money
08 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - New Zealand
As I reported in September of last year, every entering student at New Zealand’s Auckland University was required to take an “indigeneity” course—and that includes prospective science majors. As I noted: . . . . at the University of Auckland—New Zealand’s most prestigious university—every student has to take a mandatory course related to indigenous knowledge, […]
University of Auckland set to make mandatory “indigeneity” courses optional, as students considered them a waste of time and money
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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