Ani O’Brien writes – On Friday night, having imbibed a few wines I strayed onto X to unwisely engage in some (slightly drunk) opinion sharing. I tweeted:
Propping up the film sector or stimulating growth?
Propping up the film sector or stimulating growth?
19 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, movies, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, survivor principle, television Tags: corporate welfare
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
16 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias, sex discrimination
They have published numerous articles decrying sexist abuse of MPs, and then they turn around and publish a column by one of their own journalists calling female Ministers a bunch of cu**s. The greatest sign of their hypocrisy is from this note by then then Dominion Post editor: So the Editor of the DP explicitly…
Stuff’s hypocrisy laid bare
Is this a gold mine? Iwi might need consulting (for a fee) before your development can be given RMA consents
16 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, energy economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, resource economics, urban economics
Bob Edlin writes – West Coast Regional Councillor Allan Birchfield has whipped up a fuss in his neck of the woods by challenging the Ngāti Waewae representative Francois Tumahai over the iwi’s role in resource consenting. The iwi – it seems – must agree to gold-mining consents in gold-mining country, presumably after appropriate consultation or engagement […]
Is this a gold mine? Iwi might need consulting (for a fee) before your development can be given RMA consents
Ministers of Finance
14 May 2025 Leave a comment
No, nothing so serious as fiscal policy. I saw this morning this chart in a tweet from a Canadian economics professor (prompted by the new ministerial appointments in Canada). I was digging around in the list of former New Zealand Ministers of Finance anyway, and thought it might be interesting to try a New Zealand […]
Ministers of Finance
Willis responds to Vance celling her a c**t
12 May 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Nicola Willis writes: Having the C-word directed at me by a journalist in a mainstream publication wasn’t on my bingo-list for Mother’s Day 2025. Nor was being accused of “girl-math”. But there you have it, that’s what was thrown at me and my female colleagues in a recent newspaper column as hopelessly devoid of facts as it […]
Willis responds to Vance celling her a c**t
Policy whiplash risks eroding NZ’s investment stability
10 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Roger Partridge writes- Resources Minister Shane Jones recently floated a novel idea: Government-backed insurance for oil and gas investors to protect them against future policy reversals. Let that sink in. A New Zealand minister is contemplating taxpayer-funded insurance to compensate companies against… the decisions of future New Zealand Governments.
Policy whiplash risks eroding NZ’s investment stability
Why contempt needs to be met with contempt
08 May 2025 Leave a comment
It is clear Te Pati Maori holds Parliament in contempt. I don’t just mean in the technical sense of breaching the rules of the House, but in the more general sense of behaving with contempt. To publish the draft Privileges Committee report on the actions of three of their MPs on their social media feed […]
Why contempt needs to be met with contempt
Does he know what a woman is now?
07 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economics of education, gender, health and safety, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has joined the chorus of those opposing changes to pay equity legislation. Does this mean he knows what a woman is now? It is easy for opposition parties and their allies to criticise proposed changes but Heather du Plessis-Allan points out the problem with existing legislation: . . . Those pay […]
Does he know what a woman is now?
Little not stupid
03 May 2025 Leave a comment
Stuff reports: Whanau’s exit has come with plenty of speculation about the possibility of a deal, so that she and Little might work together and advance Labour/Green interests. But Little has no such plans, and he would not consider the current mayor to be his deputy, he confirmed. “This election is about change. The sentiment […]
Little not stupid
RIP Bob Jones
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
Bob (Sir Robert) Jones has died aged 85. Bob was one of my favourite authors growing up, and I was fortunate enough to get to know him quite well in recent times. His larrikin sense of humour will be sadly missed – we need more in his mould. In 1973 he published a book called […]
RIP Bob Jones
Andrew Little looks well-placed in mayoralty race – but don’t consider his election a foregone conclusion
02 May 2025 Leave a comment
Peter Dunne writes – There is an old saying doing the rounds in Rome at present as Cardinals gather to elect a successor to Pope Francis that “he who enters the conclave a Pope, leaves a Cardinal”. While the warning has not always been borne out in recent Papal elections, it does have application more […]
Andrew Little looks well-placed in mayoralty race – but don’t consider his election a foregone conclusion
Housing affordability
01 May 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, income redistribution, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Bad advice on public sector discount rates
30 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: discount rates
A couple of months ago now I wrote a post about the new set of discount rates government agencies are supposed to use in undertaking cost-benefit analysis, whether for new spending projects or for regulatory initiatives. The new, radically altered, framework had come into effect from 1 October last year, but with no publicity (except […]
Bad advice on public sector discount rates
Auckland Uni students react to Treaty ‘indoctrination’
29 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: free speech, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Compulsory first-year courses come under fire. Graham Adams writes – This year, the University of Auckland launched mandatory courses focused on a particular view of New Zealand history, Te Tiriti, and indigenous “knowledge systems”— which is to say mātauranga Māori — for all first-year students. It doesn’t matter whether you’re studying engineering, accounting, science or arts, you […]
Auckland Uni students react to Treaty ‘indoctrination’
‘Rule of Two’ medicines approval needs improving
28 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: drug lags
Eric Crampton writes – Come the next pandemic, we are going to be in the same stupid mess that we were in during the last one. Trusted pharmaceutical regulators overseas, like those in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the UK, will have given provisional approvals for vaccines that are safe. And Kiwis will have to wait, […]
‘Rule of Two’ medicines approval needs improving
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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