Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
27 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - New Zealand, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
I’ve never really been persuaded that it is a good idea for public servants to be giving speeches, unless perhaps they are simply and explicitly explaining or articulating government policy. If they are, instead, purporting to run their own views or those of their agency it is almost inevitable that we will be getting less […]
Treasury on tax
26 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
Chris Trotter writes – Labour needs to defend itself. Winston Peters has made it very clear that he and his party are coming after Labour’s voters. Peters senses an avalanche of Labour support just waiting for a decent-sized detonator to set it sliding in NZ First’s direction. Labour’s leader, Chris Hipkins, should now brace himself […]
The explosive force of democratic expectations
25 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: rule of law
The Greens announced: Today, the Greens are announcing that a Green Government will commit to revoking any consents or permits handed out under the fast-track process for coal, Hardrock gold and seabed mining. This is the Greens saying that they will revoke consents and permits that were legally granted. This is the sort of behaviour…
Greens against the rule of law
25 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: creative destruction, employment law
Roger Partridge writes – The Supreme Court’s Uber judgment (Rasier Operations BV v E Tū Inc [2025] NZSC 162) has delivered clarity of a sort. The Court dismissed Uber’s appeal, upholding the finding that the drivers involved in the proceedings are employees when logged into the Uber app. Yet the decision is deeply flawed. The Court […]
The Flaw at the Core of the Supreme Court’s Uber Decision
24 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, financial economics, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, privatisation
Pragmatic analysis says maybe we should, but we should also consider nationalisation. We should certainly consider better regulation. Brian Easton writes – An earlier column argued that we should make the government’s net worth – the value of its assets less its liabilities – more prominent in fiscal policy. Net worth is also fundamental when we are […]
Should We Privatise More Government Businesses?
23 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
A guest post by Peter Lynn: Over the last 30 years, state sectors of Western democracies have expanded and senior level state employment, with its high pay, security and access to the levers of power became a magnet for the academically gifted, especially independence minded younger women. University educated they initially moved into ministries before…
Guest Post: The Peasants are Revolting
22 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, managerial economics, occupational choice, organisational economics, personnel economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics Tags: employment law
Eric Crampton writes – Yesterday [November 17], the Supreme Court ruled that Uber did not merely facilitate connections between four drivers and their various passengers – as Uber has maintained. And that the four drivers were not contractors for Uber either. Instead, those drivers were Uber employees while logged into the app.
If this is employment law, the law needs to change
17 Nov 2025 1 Comment
It is pretty funny to watch Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, the ousted Te Pāti Māori MP, trot off to the courts to challenge her expulsion from the party.
Justice by tikanga? Not for Kapa-Kingi, she prefers the colonial courts
14 Nov 2025 1 Comment
in economics of education, politics - New Zealand Tags: conjecture and refutation, philosophy of science
A great article by Zoran Rakovic. He starts by defining science: “Science must begin with myths,” Karl Popper wrote, “and with the criticism of myths.” The operative word is criticism. Science doesn’t function on reverence; it thrives on tension, on the perpetual risk of being wrong. That’s what makes it public. I don’t need a PhD […]
Best take yet on Mātauranga Māori and Science
11 Nov 2025 1 Comment
in defence economics, development economics, economic history, history of economic thought, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: economics of colonialism
The House believes that the Sun should never have set on the British Empire Don Brash says – Mr/Madame President, I speak in opposition to the motion. But I also want to acknowledge at the outset that the British Empire did more good things for more people than any other empire in human history.
Don Brash’s Oxford Union speech
08 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
It seems clear that the Tamihere faction wants to expel Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Takuta Ferris from Te Pati Maori, and possibly to also waka jump them from Parliament, causing by-elections. At first glance they should be able to do this, as you only needs a two thirds majority in caucus to expect MPs under the […]
Can you waka jump when you have overhang?
07 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - New Zealand Tags: anthropology
David Farrar writes – Something I have been interested in is trying to get a better understanding of what life was like for Maori in New Zealand before Abel Tasman made contact in 1642. By then Maori had been in New Zealand for around 400 years. Some people dismiss Maori civilisation back then as Stone […]
How advanced was Māori civilisation?
07 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, politics - New Zealand, transport economics, urban economics
Eric Crampton writes – Sometimes, policy work is like wishing on a cursed wish-granting monkey’s paw. Like the one in the old Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode, later parodied in The Simpsons. Wish on the paw, one of the paw’s extended fingers will curl, and your wish will come true. But not in the way you’d wanted. […]
Be careful what you wish for – new cost-benefit analysis paves paradise
05 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
Chris Trotter writes – Te Pāti Māori’s consistent failure to participate in the day-to-day business of Parliament is telling. Citizens availing themselves of the consultative machinery of Parliament, select committees in particular, report Te Pāti Māori no-shows with a regularity strongly suggestive of its non-participation being more of a feature than a bug. The argument that […]
Te Pāti Māori’s future: in the House, or on the streets?
04 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
David Farrar writes – Back on September 12 I blogged: Reliable sources tell me this is much bigger than I realised. There is a huge split in TPM, basically between the Tamihere aligned MPs and the rest. I have been told that some existing MPs are facing deselection, and that this is behind what we are […]
The TPM putsch is on
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Celebrating humanity's flourishing through the spread of capitalism and the rule of law
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