Back in March, the World Happiness Index 2020 placed New Zealand eighth with a score of 7.3, tucked between Austria and Sweden. Every country ranking higher was Nordic (aside from Switzerland) and I notice they also have plenty of Ikea stores. Read more
We should thank Ruth Richardson for requiring Treasury to publish pre-election economic and fiscal forecasts. Compliments also to Treasury for maintaining their quality over nearly three decades. Read more
Treasury’s pre-election fiscal update makes for grim reading. Read more
Last week, National proposed a series of policies to increase the uptake of electric vehicles. Read more
Judging by the usual economic indicators, you would never guess New Zealand is in a severe crisis. Read more
Back in April, the Government promised $50 million to support a flagging media sector. It’s hard to make a buck online, but the real problem was getting people to pay attention to news. Read more
On the first day of election bribes, Jacinda gave to me: a holiday on Matariki. Read more
Labour finally announced some election policies this week: a new public holiday, a cap on bank fees and a new top rate of income tax. Read more
Last week’s UNICEF report on child wellbeing gets one big thing very right. Important parts of government policy are failing children. But the problem is hardly as simple as inequality in household incomes, which UNICEF’s local representative suggested is the root cause. Read more
When you think of Sweden, does Abba come to mind? What about meatballs or furniture stores? Maybe that was true in 2019. These days, Sweden is more likely to split friendships over arguments about herd immunity and its Covid-19 death toll. Read more
It wasn’t that long after the Christchurch earthquakes that the calls for rent control came. The earthquakes had destroyed thousands and thousands of homes. Things were really rather dire. We lived in South New Brighton at the time; our neighbour had people living in her garden shed. Read more
Politicians like shovelling out money for shovel-ready projects. Read more
Some countries have clear advantages during a pandemic. For instance, New Zealand is surrounded by a thousand-kilometre moat.On the other hand, Sweden’s obvious disadvantage was its proximity to Northern Italy, one of the first Covid-19 hotspots outside of China and a common destination for Swedes on ski holidays.However, research from Washington DC-based George Mason University show it can be the less obvious shortcomings that can hurt the most during a pandemic.In their recent working paper, 16 Possible factors for Sweden’s... Read more
If we take one overarching political lesson from the Government’s “shovel-ready” spending fiasco and the school of environmental voodoo, it’s this: Principles are dangerous things. It’s best not to have them. Read more
Cartography geeks might remember the isochronic maps of the late 19th and early 20th century. Covid’s time-warp is making them relevant again, and possibly for rather longer than we might hope. Read more