24 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in economic history, labour economics, minimum wage, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada
Figure 1: minimum wage relative to median wage in full-time worker, UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, 1960 – 2012

Source: OECD StatExtract
Figure 2: minimum wage relative to mean wage in full-time worker, UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, 1960 – 2012

Source: OECD StatExtract
24 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking
Tags: animal rights, Australian Greens, do gooders, expressive voting, New South Wales election, New Zealand Greens, voter demographics, workers rights
24 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of regulation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, urban economics
Tags: British general election, expressive voting, offsetting behaviour, rational irrationality, rent controls, The fatal conceit, UK politics, unintended consequences
20 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in comparative institutional analysis, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
Tags: capital gains tax, evidence-based policy, land supply, RMA, zoning
This week, the New Zealand government announced a special capital gains tax for investments in housing. Specifically, if a buyer sells the house within two years of buying it, and this house is not their home, the investor will be liable to income tax on any profit.

This solution also has been put forward by the left-wing political parties in New Zealand as their solution to the problem of restricted land supply in Auckland and other cities in New Zealand.
The introduction of a capital gains tax is a breakthrough for housing affordability. This solution of using a capital gains tax to dampen demand has been given its chance and it will fail.

Once a capital gains tax fails to make housing more affordable, political parties on the left and on the right can no longer put off confronting real solutions such as major reforms to the Resource Management Act (RMA) to loosen restrictions on the supply of land in the big cities in New Zealand and in particular in Auckland.
18 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics
Tags: company tax, endogenous growth theory, foreign direct investment, lost decades

New Zealand is one of only two developed countries, the other being Finland, that switched from a territorial tax system to a worldwide system.Both eventually returned to a territorial tax system for competitiveness reasons. New Zealand went one step further in their experiment with worldwide taxation by ending deferral.
This resulted in a twenty year stagnation in foreign investment at a time when foreign investment was growing dramatically in the rest of the developed world.
This coincided with an economic decline in New Zealand relative to Australia and the rest of the developed world. Because foreign investment is key to accessing the world’s consumers, it is not surprising that less foreign investment translated to less economic prosperity at home.
The New Zealand experience shows that ending or limiting deferral in the United States, as President Obama and others have proposed, would likely have severe economic downsides. Instead, as New Zealand eventually did in 2009, the U.S. should implement a territorial system that exempts foreign earnings.

via New Zealand’s Experience with Territorial Taxation | Tax Foundation.
17 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice
Tags: expressive voting, opinion polls, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, social desirability bias, voter demographics
15 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in economic growth, economic history, macroeconomics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand
Tags: Australia, British economy, lost decades
Figure 1: Real GDP per New Zealander, British and Australian aged 15-64, converted to 2013 price level with updated 2005 EKS purchasing power parities, 1956-2013

Source: Computed from OECD Stat Extract and The Conference Board, Total Database, January 2014, http://www.conference-board.org/economics
Figure 2: Real GDP per New Zealander, British and Australian aged 15-64, converted to 2013 price level with updated 2005 EKS purchasing power parities, 1.9 per cent detrended, 1956-2013

Source: Computed from OECD Stat Extract and The Conference Board, Total Database, January 2014, http://www.conference-board.org/economics
15 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in applied welfare economics, economics of love and marriage, gender, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, population economics, welfare reform
Tags: child poverty, economics of the family, family poverty, marriage and divorce, single mothers, single parents
15 May 2015
by Jim Rose
in development economics, economics of regulation, environmental economics, growth miracles, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, urban economics
Tags: green rent seeking, housing affordability The fatal conceit, land use regulation, offsetting behaviour, RMA, The pretence to knowledge, unintended consequences, urban planning, zoning
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