No attention is paid to what will be the future composition of economic activity. It assumes that the growth will happen and that the required businesses – critically, exports – will appear. After all ...

Shane Jones is committed to state-led economic development.

Michael Cullen set out his political philosophy in his autobiography. So has Chris Finlayson. His is having significant impact on Māori development. Chris Finlayson was Minister for Treaty ...

Why doesn’t our government reflect New Zealanders; why doesn’t Parliament make them? There will be many claims over the next few months that the minor parties will hold the major parties/politics/New ...

This column started out to explain how the proposed structural outsourcing of public surgery was partly a consequence of the peculiarities of our fiscal borrowing practices. In summary, the ...

Was another IT debacle inevitable given the management arrangements? In February 20022, Archives New Zealand (ANZ) switched its electronic access to the nation’s public records from ‘Archway’ to the ...

What are the economic and political implications if the New Zealand economy stagnates for five and more years? Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report that ‘We've got the worst recession* ...

A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase. Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published ...

Speculative bubbles have occurred in the New Zealand housing market Speculative bubbles are common. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was an example, as was the New Zealand finance companies’ crash ...

‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ Goethe I was struck at a recent conference on equity ...

Winning office is not the same as achieving change. A recent Economist columnist divided politicians and their political advisers into either ‘jock wankers’ or ‘nerd wankers’. It’s a distinction which ...

Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest? Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b ...