The Spinoff reports: Both Labour and National governments have considered the idea of breaking up the big two but ultimately decided against it. A 2023 analysis by MBIE suggested forcibly breaking up the supermarkets could cost as much as $3.8 billion over 20 years, mostly due to the loss of economies of scale. It could make wholesale and distribution…
A good idea for supermarket competition
A good idea for supermarket competition
14 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, politics - New Zealand, urban economics Tags: competition law, land supply, zoning
Stuff confirms what I said six months ago about TPM
09 May 2026 Leave a comment
Stuff reports: Back on 28 November I blogged: I understand that Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke is consulting her electorate over the next two weeks on whether she should remain with Te Pati Maori under its current leadership. Only took six months for others tp catch up 🙂 With Kapa-Kingi sitting in a limbo-land not quite in, but…
Stuff confirms what I said six months ago about TPM
BSA to go
07 May 2026 Leave a comment
The Herald reports: The Government will disestablish the Broadcasting Standards Authority after deeming the media regulator’s role “doesn’t make sense” amid an evolving industry. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith today confirmed the Government had agreed a process to wind down the BSA and “investigate self-regulation options”. The Government had been considering the future of…
BSA to go
Chippie is brave and right
06 May 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: ageing society
The Herald reports: Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he is open to discussing whether New Zealand’s superannuation should be means-tested. Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Kerre Woodham he would not want full means-testing of the country’s pension but added “there are questions”. “I don’t want to do this on a unilateral basis, I think these need to…
Chippie is brave and right
Pay us off or we’ll oppose it
04 May 2026 Leave a comment
ACT released last week: “An iwi group’s alleged demand for $180 million in order to approve the Bendigo Santana gold mine exposes how New Zealand’s resource management system has been warped by standover tactics and backroom dealing,” says ACT Resources spokesman Simon Court. Kā Rūnaka say extracting $180 million from Santana has not been their…
Pay us off or we’ll oppose it
Soper on Ardern
02 May 2026 Leave a comment
Audrey Young writes: There is one verdict that stands out among others, however, his scathing assessment of Dame Jacinda Ardern. He even weaponises her self-deprecating admission that she suffered from “imposter syndrome” against her. “She talked a number of occasions about an imposter syndrome, and I think she genuinely felt that because I thought she was…
Soper on Ardern
Medsafe Delenda Est
01 May 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: drug lags
Excellent news out of the UK. Abrysvo, a vaccine for RSV administered to pregnant women, reduces infant hospitalisation by 80%. From the BBC:A vaccine during pregnancy which protects newborns against nasty chest infections is cutting hospital admissions of babies by more than 80%, UK health officials say.A virus, called RSV, affects many babies in the first…
Medsafe Delenda Est
This may come as no surprise
30 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, health economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: black markets
RNZ reports:An RNZ investigation into the tobacco blackmarket found packs of cigarettes and loose tobacco being sold brazenly over the counter at heavily discounted prices.By law, cigarettes have to include pictures and health warnings covering at least 75-percent of the front of the packs. But the cigarettes being sold on the blackmarket are a throw…
This may come as no surprise
The wrestling cartoonist with a vituperative vocabulary who has passed muster with the Greens
29 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand, politics - USA
Bob Edlin writes – PoO was steered by David Farrar, on Kiwiblog, to the Green Party’s selection of a Samoan cartoonist as its candidate for the seat of Mangere in the General Election this year. But neither the candidate’s ethnicity, nor his profession, prompted Farrar’s expression of concern in an article on Kiwiblog headed … […]
The wrestling cartoonist with a vituperative vocabulary who has passed muster with the Greens
Unreported for nearly a year: media misconduct in Parliament
29 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, politics - New Zealand Tags: media bias
Inside the Press Gallery: power, silence, and the accountability gap in New Zealand media On the evening of 13 May 2025, Finance Minister Nicola Willis hosted a pre-Budget drinks event in her parliamentary office. The event appears, in official records, as “EVENT: Press Gallery… Parliament… Invited Guests” at 6pm in her ministerial diary. It was intended to […]
Unreported for nearly a year: media misconduct in Parliament
New Zealand’s alienated 28%
28 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
A new report on social cohesion was released on Thursday. The survey results in it are far from boring or inconsequential. Amongst screeds of important data, two big numbers stand out: 28% of New Zealanders are now in what the report calls the “alienated” camp of politics, and 44% of New Zealanders think the political […]
New Zealand’s alienated 28%
Winston Peters and the art of keeping National on the defensive
25 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
Labour’s decision to support the free trade agreement with India should have surprised nobody. It was always going to be the outcome, with the outstanding question being just when Labour would announce its support for the deal. As this column noted in early February, from the outset Labour has been effectively over a barrel on […]
Winston Peters and the art of keeping National on the defensive
Misuse of HDCA
24 Apr 2026 1 Comment
in economics of crime, law and economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: crime and punishment, free speech
Shayne Currie reports: One of New Zealand’s biggest news organisations is appealing a precedent-setting court decision, in which a man convicted of assaulting his partner convinced a judge that an online news article about him and the attack should be removed. The district court judge agreed the man, who did not receive name suppression at…
Misuse of HDCA
US Constitution provides for replacing an impaired President – but what happens in NZ?
17 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - New Zealand Tags: constitutional law
Donald Trump’s erratic behaviour has led to increasing speculation that United States legislators may invoke the 25th Amendment to the United States’ Constitution to remove him from office. Respected media outlets like the New York Times have been openly raising questions about the President’s sanity and therefore his capability to remain in office.
US Constitution provides for replacing an impaired President – but what happens in NZ?
Guest Post: IOC Restores Common Sense to Women’s Sport – Now It’s Time for New Zealand to Follow Suit
16 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in discrimination, gender, politics - New Zealand, sports economics Tags: sex discrimination
A guest post by Ro Edge, New Zealand Spokesperson, Save Women’s Sport Australasia (SWSA): The decision by the International Olympic Committee to restore the core purpose of women’s sport: providing biological females with a fair and safe arena to compete, is long-overdue. For years, many sporting bodies adopted the IOC’s earlier open-door policy, leading to…
Guest Post: IOC Restores Common Sense to Women’s Sport – Now It’s Time for New Zealand to Follow Suit
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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