From his Stuff opinion piece this morning and here is the headline – which Grant may not have written of course. On macro issues, Luxon’s government is indistinguishable from its predecessors There is a link to the full article but I agree 100% with Grant when he says: In his government, if not under his […]
Damien Grant Sums Up Christopher Luxon
Damien Grant Sums Up Christopher Luxon
14 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
DON BRASH: ANOTHER OUTSTANDING SPEECH FROM CHRIS BISHOP
13 Jul 2024 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
Four months ago, I described a speech by Chris Bishop in his capacity as Minister of Housing as perhaps the most important speech given by any Government minister since the election last year. He’s just given another, arguably even more important, laying out in words of one syllable what the Government plans to do…
DON BRASH: ANOTHER OUTSTANDING SPEECH FROM CHRIS BISHOP
In Science, fifteen New Zealand researchers criticize the initiative to teach indigenous “ways of knowing” as science
13 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
Two letters have just been published in Science signed by a total of 15 scientists, all criticizing the first article below (published in Science last February), a piece arguing for teaching indigenous knowledge (including N.Z.’s version, Mātauranga Māori) alongside science in the science classroom. (Click to read.) Now the authors, after being criticized, denied that […]
In Science, fifteen New Zealand researchers criticize the initiative to teach indigenous “ways of knowing” as science
The Failure of Primary Care
12 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in health economics, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand
In an ageing and growing population, the failure of primary health care in New Zealand is a dire problem. Many general practices are shadows of their former selves. There are too few doctors and too many patients. Many people can’t even get enrolled. Those who are enrolled report wait times to see a GP of…
The Failure of Primary Care
Meet the next Green MP
10 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: cranks, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The next Green MP in on the List is Benjamin Doyle. This is his MA thesis: Here is a Master’s thesis crafted with, by, and for Rangatahi Takatāpui. It represents a labour of love for the community to which I belong, and seeks to generate understanding about the factors that enable LGBTQI+ Māori youth to […]
Meet the next Green MP
The Pharmac Fiasco
09 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: drug lags, patents and copyrights
If you don’t understand how things work you make foolish mistakes. To explain how the government got into its cancer drugs muddle, we need to explain first how New Zealand’s pharmaceutical purchasing system works. There is a parallel between Pharmac and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The Government sets the monetary policy framework with […]
The Pharmac Fiasco
Still avoiding responsibility
09 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in business cycles, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: monetary policy
I was away when Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway gave his recent speech, “The road back to 2% inflation”, and since I didn’t see any material commentary on it I didn’t bother going back to it when I got home. But my son – honours student researching monetary policy (anyone wanting a young economist […]
Still avoiding responsibility
The Ghahraman judgment
06 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment
The 60 paragraph decision by Judge Jelas is an interesting read. Some extracts:
The Ghahraman judgment
Finally a great housing package
05 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, economics of regulation, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, transport economics, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land supply, zoning
Chris Bishop has announced changes to housing laws which will make a huge difference to housing affordability. Almost every expert has said that to reduce pressure on house prices you need to both build up and build out. The NIMBYs oppose building up and the Greenies opposes building out. Phil Rayford in 2017 had some […]
Finally a great housing package
Have Swarbrick’s Greens actually had zero environmental impact, and simply just thrown thousands into poverty?
27 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - New Zealand
What has been the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions in NZ these past six years? The CO2 expelled in hot air from the Greens & their travels to and from Wellington, and around the world? Has the Green Party contributed next to nothing in terms of reducing NZ’s contribution to global emissions, yet added…
Have Swarbrick’s Greens actually had zero environmental impact, and simply just thrown thousands into poverty?
Guest Post: Funding Infrastructure
24 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economics of bureaucracy, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, transport economics, urban economics
A guest post by Gary Lindsay responding to the speech by Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop: Chris Bishop’s speech regarding infrastructure has been a long time coming. It’s great that a government is finally serious about the massive infrastructure deficit that has been building since the major (necessary) cuts in 1984. Correcting a 40 year infrastructure […]
Guest Post: Funding Infrastructure
Good point
23 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights
Health and Safety laws
23 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, health and safety, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand
Peter Dunne writes – In 2016 New Zealand instituted comprehensive new health and safety laws for workplaces and other areas of activity. The expectation was that the new regime the legislation introduced would dramatically improve the culture and practice around safety in the workplace, reduce the numbers of accidents and save lives. However, the most […]
Health and Safety laws
JORDAN WILLIAMS: We can’t afford cancer drugs, but can afford this?
20 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in health economics, politics - New Zealand, public economics
While cancer patients wait for the Government to “find the money” to fund desperately needed modern drugs, the very money meant for health research and saving lives is being flushed down the toilet. At our weekly staff meeting this morning, the research team took me through the latest batch of grant funding decisions by the…
JORDAN WILLIAMS: We can’t afford cancer drugs, but can afford this?
Inconvenient truths for eco-zealots
19 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, politics - New Zealand Tags: climate alarmism
Radical environmentalists have had far too loud a voice, and put far too much effort into attempting to put the environmental cart in front of the research, science and technological horses with no regard for the economic and social costs. At last someone is reminding them of some inconvenient truths: For environmentalists to have the […]
Inconvenient truths for eco-zealots
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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