It will not matter what was agreed in 1840 if the coalition cannot get our children back to school. Most children do not attend school regularly. Nations that do not educate the next generation are doomed to fail. In the 3rd term last year most Pakeha pupils, 52%, did not go to school regularly.…
RICHARD PREBBLE: We must get our children back to school
RICHARD PREBBLE: We must get our children back to school
21 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, politics - New Zealand
Māori force indigenous prayer on secular district-council meeting
20 Feb 2024 1 Comment
in economics of religion, politics - New Zealand Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, Freedom of religion, political correctness, regressive left

Meanwhile, the fun continues in New Zealand, as this article from Te Ao, which conveys Māori news, attests. In fact, there’s a video, so you can see the whole episode, as well as a transcript of the video. Here’s what happened: A local district council met and one of the participants wanted to recite a […]
Māori force indigenous prayer on secular district-council meeting
RODNEY HIDE interviews PROF PAUL MOON
19 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, International law, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights Tags: constitutional law

PROF PAUL MOON: Historian and Author: On His Review of The Human Rights Commission’s ‘Maranga Mai’ Report on ‘The Doctrine of Discovery’ Paul Moon joins Rodney to discuss his review of the Human Rights Commission’s ‘Maranga Mai’ report on ‘The Doctrine of Discovery’. Listen here You can read Paul’s review on ‘The Doctrine of Discovery’…
RODNEY HIDE interviews PROF PAUL MOON
John Tamihere – Why did he change?
18 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: New Zealand, racial discrimination
OLIVER HARTWICH: Absurd – NZ courts can now decide on climate change
17 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, economics of climate change, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming, law and economics, liberalism, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: climate activists, rule of law
Oliver Hartwich writes – The World Justice Project ranks New Zealand 7th out of 142 countries on its ‘Rule of Law Index’, narrowly ahead of Australia’s 13th place. However, Australia still has hope – if only because of a recent decision by the Supreme Court of New Zealand. The case is easily told. Mike Smith, […]
OLIVER HARTWICH: Absurd – NZ courts can now decide on climate change
Mihi Forbes and the great Atlas conspiracy
16 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, television Tags: conspiracy theorists
Graham Adams writes — Last week, Mihingarangi Forbes made an extraordinary claim while interviewing David Seymour on Mata Reports, a taxpayer-funded current affairs programme which, she says, looks at events through an “indigenous lens”. She asked him about Act’s links to the Atlas Network, which fosters connections between centre-right think tanks around the world. When […]
Mihi Forbes and the great Atlas conspiracy
Chris Trotter’s brain hasn’t melted
13 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
After the 2017 election, the brains of some folks on the NZ right seemed to melt. They imagined that Ardern was controlled by Davos, or the World Economic Forum, or the International Socialist Youth of which she had been President, or Soros. It was all just stupid. Labour had won the election, there were no conspiracies,…
Chris Trotter’s brain hasn’t melted
The U.S. follows New Zealand: let’s teach indigenous “ways of knowing” in the science classroom!
13 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of education, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech, political correctness, regressive left

The virus that has long infected New Zealand—the argument that indigenous “ways of knowing” should be taught alongside science in the science classroom—has now spread to America, with the help of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its flagship journal, Science, often regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious venues. […]
The U.S. follows New Zealand: let’s teach indigenous “ways of knowing” in the science classroom!
BRIAN EASTON: Te Tiriti as a social contract
12 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economics of bureaucracy, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: Age of Enlightenment, constitutional law, regressive left
Interpreting the agreement made at Waitangi as a social contract is a way to move forward on treaty issues (This column follows ‘Our Understandings Of Te Tiriti Has Evolved Organically’.) Brian Easton writes – Te Tiriti is in the form of a social contract of the sort that political theorists have discussed since the seventeenth […]
BRIAN EASTON: Te Tiriti as a social contract
The highly inconvenient Sir Apirana Ngata
10 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, economic history, income redistribution, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: constitutional law
Graham Adams writes — Sir Apirana Ngata has a pre-eminent place in the pantheon of Māori luminaries. He is widely regarded as a visionary leader who, in an illustrious political career, championed biculturalism when assimilationist policies were the norm. He energetically promoted Māori language and culture, and land reform. He was an MP for nearly […]
The highly inconvenient Sir Apirana Ngata
CHRIS TROTTER: Are you a leftist?
10 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, The fatal conceit, unintended consequences
Chris Trotter writes – THERE WAS A TIME when a leftist’s definition of “leftism” corresponded pretty closely to everybody else’s definition. The term identified a coherent worldview – to the point where knowing where someone stood on one issue enabled them to predict with surprising accuracy where they stood on a host of others. If […]
CHRIS TROTTER: Are you a leftist?
PETER WILLIAMS: Supreme Court decision astounding
09 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in economics of bureaucracy, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: climate activists
Three years ago a friend of mine who’s a District Court Judge asked me if I would be guest speaker at the annual DCJ shindig, scheduled that year for the Hilton in Taupo. Despite a feeling of significant intellectual inferiority, I accepted on the condition that all I would talk about were personal experiences from…
PETER WILLIAMS: Supreme Court decision astounding
DON BRASH: NATIONHOOD, Orewa, 2004
09 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in discrimination, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law, political correctness, racial discrimination, regressive left

On February 1 Sean Plunket re-played the audio of Don Brash’s 2004 Orewa speech at The Platform. To listen to the entire speech, go here. Alternatively, the full text of the speech is reproduced below. Today Don reflects: “It’s very long – really far too long for a Rotary Club speech. I should have taken…
DON BRASH: NATIONHOOD, Orewa, 2004
The Conway speech
08 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, fiscal policy, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice, unemployment Tags: monetary policy

I’ve been rather tied up with other stuff for the last few weeks (including here) which is why I’ve not previously gotten round to writing about the first piece of monetary policy communications from our Reserve Bank this year. That was the “speech” by the Bank’s chief economist (and MPC) member Paul Conway given to […]
The Conway speech
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Labour hid developing welfare crisis
08 Feb 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of education, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: child poverty, family poverty
Lindsay Mitchell writes- When National became government in 2008, Finance Minister Bill English’s determination to understand the extent of benefit-dependency led them to commission Taylor Fry to produce annual actuarial reports. These were duly published at the MSD website every year but ceased when the government changed in 2017. Now however, an Official Information request […]
LINDSAY MITCHELL: Labour hid developing welfare crisis

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