Radio NZ reports: Deakin University associate criminology professor Dr James Martin told RNZ the Australian approach had relied on enforcement to suppress the black market. “This has been really ineffective,” he said. “We’ve got between 50-60 percent of all tobacco and nearly all vaping products in Australia now come from criminal suppliers, and it’s generated…
Bigger than Ben Hur
Bigger than Ben Hur
16 May 2026 1 Comment
in Austrian economics, economics of regulation, health economics, industrial organisation, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets, economics of smoking
The Sting in the India Trade Deal
16 May 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, economics of regulation, international economic law, international economics, International law, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: India, preferential trading agreements
A Constitutional Trojan Horse: advancing change through political stealth Trade Minister Hon Todd McClay has announced that the New Zealand-India free trade agreement has been signed and that the formal parliamentary treaty scrutiny process is now under way. The full text of the agreement is now public and has been referred to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee […]
The Sting in the India Trade Deal
An affront to democracy?
16 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of climate change, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: climate activists, constitutional law
Mike Smith, the climate activist suing six of New Zealand’s largest companies over greenhouse gas emissions, is unhappy. On Tuesday, the Government announced it will amend the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to stop cases like his and others like it. Smith calls the move “an affront to democracy.” He has the wrong end of the […]
An affront to democracy?
Strategic overhangs and ways to prevent them in MMP systems
15 May 2026 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, politics - New Zealand
In mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral systems, an “overhang” seat can result if a party wins more seats via the nominal tier (of, typically, single-seat districts) than it would be entitled to if a regular proportional-representation (PR) systems were used.
Strategic overhangs and ways to prevent them in MMP systems
The Māori political class is failing its people
15 May 2026 Leave a comment
On Monday, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi announced publicly she was leaving Te Pāti Māori to form the Te Tai Tokerau Party. The announcement was framed in the language of mana motuhake, regional self-determination, and wahine leadership. It was, she said, the approach she and her team decided was best for them.
The Māori political class is failing its people
Why it is unlikely Waititi’s thinking about one-term government and the Maori Party will be realised
14 May 2026 Leave a comment
Rawiri Waititi is absolutely correct when he says there will be no one-term government without Te Pati Māori. At no point since the last election have Labour and the Green Party been polling strongly enough to contemplate forming a government without the inclusion of Te Pati Māori. And even if Te Pati Māori were to […]
Why it is unlikely Waititi’s thinking about one-term government and the Maori Party will be realised
A good idea for supermarket competition
14 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: competition law, land supply, zoning
The Spinoff reports: Both Labour and National governments have considered the idea of breaking up the big two but ultimately decided against it. A 2023 analysis by MBIE suggested forcibly breaking up the supermarkets could cost as much as $3.8 billion over 20 years, mostly due to the loss of economies of scale. It could make wholesale and distribution…
A good idea for supermarket competition
Stuff confirms what I said six months ago about TPM
09 May 2026 Leave a comment
Stuff reports: Back on 28 November I blogged: I understand that Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke is consulting her electorate over the next two weeks on whether she should remain with Te Pati Maori under its current leadership. Only took six months for others tp catch up 🙂 With Kapa-Kingi sitting in a limbo-land not quite in, but…
Stuff confirms what I said six months ago about TPM
BSA to go
07 May 2026 Leave a comment
The Herald reports: The Government will disestablish the Broadcasting Standards Authority after deeming the media regulator’s role “doesn’t make sense” amid an evolving industry. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith today confirmed the Government had agreed a process to wind down the BSA and “investigate self-regulation options”. The Government had been considering the future of…
BSA to go
Chippie is brave and right
06 May 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: ageing society
The Herald reports: Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is open to discussing whether New Zealand’s superannuation should be means-tested. Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Kerre Woodham he would not want full means-testing of the country’s pension but added “there are questions”. “I don’t want to do this on a unilateral basis, I think these need to…
Chippie is brave and right
Pay us off or we’ll oppose it
04 May 2026 Leave a comment
ACT released last week: “An iwi group’s alleged demand for $180 million in order to approve the Bendigo Santana gold mine exposes how New Zealand’s resource management system has been warped by standover tactics and backroom dealing,” says ACT Resources spokesman Simon Court. Kā Rūnaka say extracting $180 million from Santana has not been their…
Pay us off or we’ll oppose it
Soper on Ardern
02 May 2026 Leave a comment
Audrey Young writes: There is one verdict that stands out among others, however, his scathing assessment of Dame Jacinda Ardern. He even weaponises her self-deprecating admission that she suffered from “imposter syndrome” against her. “She talked a number of occasions about an imposter syndrome, and I think she genuinely felt that because I thought she was…
Soper on Ardern
Medsafe Delenda Est
01 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: drug lags
Excellent news out of the UK. Abrysvo, a vaccine for RSV administered to pregnant women, reduces infant hospitalisation by 80%. From the BBC:A vaccine during pregnancy which protects newborns against nasty chest infections is cutting hospital admissions of babies by more than 80%, UK health officials say.A virus, called RSV, affects many babies in the first…
Medsafe Delenda Est
This may come as no surprise
30 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets
RNZ reports:An RNZ investigation into the tobacco blackmarket found packs of cigarettes and loose tobacco being sold brazenly over the counter at heavily discounted prices.By law, cigarettes have to include pictures and health warnings covering at least 75-percent of the front of the packs. But the cigarettes being sold on the blackmarket are a throw…
This may come as no surprise
The wrestling cartoonist with a vituperative vocabulary who has passed muster with the Greens
29 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Bob Edlin writes – PoO was steered by David Farrar, on Kiwiblog, to the Green Party’s selection of a Samoan cartoonist as its candidate for the seat of Mangere in the General Election this year. But neither the candidate’s ethnicity, nor his profession, prompted Farrar’s expression of concern in an article on Kiwiblog headed … […]
The wrestling cartoonist with a vituperative vocabulary who has passed muster with the Greens
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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