Karen Chhour gives her response on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into …
29 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of bureaucracy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice
PETER WILLLIAMS: The costs of Te Mana o te Wai are worse than we thought
29 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics
Last month I wrote about the Government’s failure to repeal David Parker’s mad ‘te Mana o te Wai’ (literally meaning the mana of the water) requirements. A few days ago, the research team at the Taxpayers’ Union were sent the details on how the rules are playing it out in my local area: Otago. While…
PETER WILLLIAMS: The costs of Te Mana o te Wai are worse than we thought
Treasury says one thing in a speech but quite another in the BEFU
28 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, unemployment Tags: monetary policy
I picked up The Post this morning to find the lead story headlined “Recession hits homes harder than businesses”, reporting a speech given earlier this week by Treasury’s deputy secretary and chief economic adviser Dominick Stephens. There was an account of the same speech, but with some different material, on BusinessDesk a couple of days […]
Treasury says one thing in a speech but quite another in the BEFU
Tikanga, law and information asymmetry
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law
Justice Joe Williams in his 2013 paper Lex Aoteoroa made a case for Māori tikanga being recognized as New Zealand’s “first law”. Tikanga existed prior to New Zealand’s development of a legal system based on the British model. Without written language pre-European Māori tikanga is not well documented. However, its customs and norms governed, for […]
Tikanga, law and information asymmetry
Fast Takes on *Build, Baby, Build*: Ed Glaeser
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, income redistribution, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply
Ed Glaeser is the chairman of Harvard’s Department of Economics. He’s also widely credited with reviving the entire field of Urban Economics. His 2018 “The Economics of Housing Supply” (with Joe Gyourko) in the Journal of Economic Perspectives was a major inspiration for my Build, Baby, Build. So in the latest “Fast Takes” interview, I…
Fast Takes on *Build, Baby, Build*: Ed Glaeser
Not a good case for a CBDC
27 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, financial economics, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: digital currency
The Reserve Bank’s latest round of consultation on a possible central bank digital currency (CBDC) closes today. The thick and probably expensive (at least one of the documents was produced jointly with the consultancy firm Accenture) set of consultation documents came up a few months ago. I thought I had run out of time to […]
Not a good case for a CBDC
Which are the most effective subsidies for green energy?
26 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: cap and trade, carbon tax, climate alarmism
That is the topic of my latest Bloomberg column, here is one excerpt: A recent study finds that, of all domestic subsidies, the most effective involve replacing the dirty production of electricity with the cleaner production of electricity. In practice, that means subsidies or tax credits for solar and wind power. Those are more than twice as effective as […]
Which are the most effective subsidies for green energy?
The Cancer Society is racist? Really?
26 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, health economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left
Graham Adams writes on the media’s mission to demonise NZ’s health system — Not long after I began treatment in 2015 for an aggressive leukaemia, I was phoned by a representative of the Cancer Society. A hospital oncology staffer had strongly recommended I give the organisation my name and contact details so I did. I […]
The Cancer Society is racist? Really?
The New Zealand government unites indigenous knowledge with “western science” by claiming that gods cause earthquakes
26 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of natural disasters, economics of religion, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, cranks, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
A comment by reader Chris Slater called my attention to this article from GeoNet, an organization described as providing “geological hazard information for Aotearoa New Zealand.” It’s also . . . . sponsored by the New Zealand Government through its agencies: Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake, GNS Science, Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand […]
The New Zealand government unites indigenous knowledge with “western science” by claiming that gods cause earthquakes
Māori Party political leader curses and rants on video, calling for overthrow of New Zealand’s government
24 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: constitutional law, free speech, Maori economic development, political correctness, regressive left
This video, professionally made and showing Kiri Tamihere-Waititi doing what can only be called ranting about her oppression and that of the Māori people, and then winding up by calling for the overthrow of the New Zealand, has caused a stir in that country. I am told that Tamihere-Waititi is a powerful member of Te […]
Māori Party political leader curses and rants on video, calling for overthrow of New Zealand’s government
Treasury wanting to use fiscal policy more
23 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, public economics Tags: monetary policy
Government departments are now all required by law to write and publish a Long-term Insights Briefing at least every three years. and they have to consult the public on both choice of topic and the draft report The Public Service Commission gives its take on these provisions here Count me more than a little sceptical. […]
Treasury wanting to use fiscal policy more
Flooding Housing Policy
22 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, monetary policy
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment. Brian Easton writes – Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the […]
Flooding Housing Policy
MICHAEL BASSETT: DEALING WITH TODAY’S SMALL, RAUCOUS, CRAZY MAORI FRINGE
22 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economic history, income redistribution, International law, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law, Maori economic development
Anyone watching and trying to understand last Sunday’s Q&A where Jack Tame interviewed Debbie Ngarewa-Packer will realise that she seems to be beyond reason. Tame tried to examine bits of her blather and her obvious misuse of words, but she immediately slithered like an eel under a rock and made louder assertions about how Maori “korero”…
MICHAEL BASSETT: DEALING WITH TODAY’S SMALL, RAUCOUS, CRAZY MAORI FRINGE
Right to Repair
21 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of regulation, industrial organisation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: consumer protection
The Green Party has a Member’s Bill up arguing for a consumer right of repair; Auckland University’s Alex Sims has written a few columns in support of such a thing. I’d had an email asking about that legislation; figured I’d share my response here – tidied up a bit.If it’s more expensive to produce a product…
Right to Repair
Lessons from the UK
21 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: British politics
There are many lessons for New Zealand in last week’s British election result, which saw the 14-year reign of the Conservative Party ending in a crushing defeat. While the number of seats won by Labour appeared to indicate a huge swing to the left in support of Sir Keir Starmer’s Party, that isn’t the case […]
Lessons from the UK
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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