Max Rashbrooke has been kidnapped again to be replaced by a neoliberal doppelganger
08 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, industrial organisation, managerial economics, market efficiency, organisational economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics Tags: privatisation
Jury nullification in the air for terrorists
08 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of crime, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: climate activists, juries
RICHARD PREBBLE: Letter of resignation from the Waitangi Tribunal
06 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Hon Tama Potaka Minister of Maori Development 28 February 2025 Dear Minister, After careful consideration I must resign as a Member of the Waitangi Tribunal. The treaty is not just our founding document, it makes New Zealand unique. Two peoples peacefully agreeing to form a nation. Over the summer I have been reading Tribunal reports […]
RICHARD PREBBLE: Letter of resignation from the Waitangi Tribunal
Adrian Orr resigns
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: economics of pandemics, monetary policy
Adrian Orr has resigned as Reserve Bank Governor. I normally try to highlight the good as well as the bad when someone resigns, but I have to admit in this case I struggle. I welcomed his appointment in 2017. I noted the currency rose on his appointment and that he had a very good legacy […]
Adrian Orr resigns
Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, budget deficits, economic growth, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, health economics, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: economics of pandemics
That’s the title of a 2024 book by a couple of Australian academic economists, Steven Hamilton (based in US) and Richard Holden (a professor at the University of New South Wales). The subtitle of the book is “How we crushed the curve but lost the race”. It is easy to get off on the wrong […]
Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism
GRAHAM ADAMS: John Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori are in a world of pain
05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The government cutting Whānau Ora funding would be a crippling blow. For the longest time, it has been impossible to make Te Pāti Māori…
GRAHAM ADAMS: John Tamihere and Te Pāti Māori are in a world of pain
RODNEY HIDE: Fight! Fight! Fight!
04 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in health economics, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, transport economics Tags: economics of pandemics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
It was shocking how the institutions we thought we could rely on crumbled like a stack of cards. The opposition, the media, the courts,…
RODNEY HIDE: Fight! Fight! Fight!
The cost of Reserve Bank regulation
02 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, business cycles, economics of bureaucracy, economics of natural disasters, economics of regulation, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: monetary policy
Roger Partridge writes: A new submission to the Committee from banking experts Andrew Body and Simon Jensen provides fresh evidence of these costs. Their analysis shows the Reserve Bank’s capital rules add between 0.25 and 0.375 percentage points to mortgage rates compared with Australia. For a million-dollar mortgage, that means between $2,500 and $3,750 in […]
The cost of Reserve Bank regulation
DON BRASH: From the internet to medicines, nothing in New Zealand is safe from Treaty mania
01 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational regulation, politics - New Zealand Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
The following is written in Don’s capacity as Hobson’s Pledge trustee. You may not have heard of InternetNZ or know exactly what they…
DON BRASH: From the internet to medicines, nothing in New Zealand is safe from Treaty mania
$50 million of taxpayer money on a ski field
01 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, industrial organisation, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking, survivor principle Tags: corporate welfare
Newsroom has a summary of taxpayer money spent on Mt Ruapehu: How often have we been told this is the final assistance. We are now deep into the sunk cost fallacy.
$50 million of taxpayer money on a ski field
Paris Accord could determine election
28 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: carbon tax
The government’s commitment to the Paris Accord has garnered opposition from farmers and farming organisations. Federated Farmers is not supportive: The Government’s announcement today of a 2035 climate target of a 51-55% emissions reduction has signed New Zealand up for a decade more of planting pine on productive land, Federated Farmers meat and wool chair […]
Paris Accord could determine election
Industry veterans slam Pharmacy Council’s forced cultural competency rules as Health Minister demands explanation
28 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, occupational regulation, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: affirmative action, free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Chris Lynch Media reports – Health Minister Simeon Brown says he will demand an explanation from the Pharmacy Council over its competence standards for pharmacists, which have been described as “deeply disturbing.” It follows inquiries to his office by chrislynchmedia.com over the standards, published on 15 June 2023 and enforced from 1 April 2024, which require […]
Industry veterans slam Pharmacy Council’s forced cultural competency rules as Health Minister demands explanation
Conspiracy theories and science denial
26 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of education, economics of information, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: conjecture and refutation, conspiracies theories, philosophy of science
Conspiracy theories and science denial are two phenomena that often intersect, influencing public discourse and societal trust in authoritative knowledge sources. This essay explores their connection, elucidates the psychological and social mechanisms underpinning them, and provides examples to demonstrate how these two manifestations of skepticism reinforce each other, often with deleterious consequences. The Connection At […]
Conspiracy theories and science denial
Does the Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle mean National’s Foreign Investment Ambitions Won’t Raise NZ Productivity?
26 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, financial economics, history of economic thought, international economics, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand Tags: foreign investment
The NZ Herald’s Editor has declared its journalists will be promoted or fired on the basis of factors like how many clicks they get on their articles. Yes, the Herald is now officially “click bait”. We’re trying to avoid the mistake of writing shallow nonsense at this Blog. So on that note, here’s a somewhat…
Does the Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle mean National’s Foreign Investment Ambitions Won’t Raise NZ Productivity?
MMP and the sharpening of political fundamentalism
26 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
Peter Dunne writes – MMP was expected to break the old Parliamentary duopoly of National and Labour and lead to far more inclusive and diverse political debate. Certainly, the increase in the number of parties in Parliament has spread the range of views being heard in the House, but it is doubtful that this has […]
MMP and the sharpening of political fundamentalism
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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