Opposition power plan unplugged
Click image for larger view.
Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich
26 April, 2013
Travel Diary 1 - Rose Patterson
Research Fellow Rose Patterson reports from parliament in Wellington about her international research trip on teacher quality. Ms Patterson will be visiting Singapore, Germany, England, Finland, and Canada, and former Head Master John Morris will be undergoing research in Australia. Read more
25 April, 2013
Media release: New think tank report clears up FDI myths
Public policy think tank, The New Zealand Initiative, launches its first report on New Zealand’s international debt position and foreign direct investment regimes. The report, New Zealand's Global Links: Foreign Ownership and the Status of New Zealand's Net International Investment, provides a one-stop-shop for statistics on New Zealand’s investment patterns. Read more
24 April, 2013
New Zealand shows Swan how to bring about a fiscal recovery
24 April, 2013
GERMS infecting our education system
Last Saturday, the primary teachers’ union NZEI rallied more than 10,000 supporters all over the country to ‘fight the GERM’ and inoculate against a disease taking the world by storm. GERM stands for the Global Education Reform Movement, a term coined by Pasi Sahlberg, the renowned Finnish expert in international education reform. Read more
19 April, 2013
Food labelling
Last week, the government proposed changing the way food manufacturers label their products. Manufacturers will no longer be able to make health claims unless backed with scientific evidence. Read more
19 April, 2013
Democracy at a standstill
This week, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released its dramatically titled annual democracy index: ‘Democracy at a standstill.’ New Zealand scored well, as should be expected. According to the EIU, we are the fifth most democratic nation on the planet, being only marginally less democratic than the obligatory Scandinavians: Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark. Read more
19 April, 2013
The real budget challenge
Click image for larger view.
Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich
19 April, 2013
The Perigo Series with Dr Oliver Hartwich
Dr Oliver Hartwich
18 April, 2013
What have the corporates ever done for Europe?
As a great Monty Python fan, one of my favourite scenes is from their movie Life of Brian. As a group of Judean conspirators against the Roman occupation gather, the rhetorical question is asked what those awful Romans had ever done for them. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich
18 April, 2013
Wishful thinking about monetary policy
Governments, worldwide, control the issuance of domestic money. That monopoly position creates the problem of determining how much money to print. Read more
Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM
12 April, 2013
Not just a crash diet
On 6 May, it will be three years since the United Kingdom elected its first coalition government since World War II. The Cameron government has made rescuing public finances its most important goal – with the Coalition Agreement giving deficit reduction precedence over all other measures. Read more
12 April, 2013
Mrs Thatcher's legacy
As readers of Insights will no doubt be aware Baroness Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, died this week at 87. Amid generous tributes, and rotten and distasteful rallies celebrating her passing, it is worth remembering her achievements and failings as prime minister. Read more
12 April, 2013
Top grads are teaching the poorest kids
Click image for larger view. Read more
12 April, 2013
Double or nothing: the euro solution
In early March, we were worried about Italy after the Italians had elected a parliament with no clear majorities. In late March, we got concerned about Cyprus because the European Union’s misguided crisis management undermined confidence in the safety of bank deposits across the eurozone. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich
11 April, 2013