New Zealand media futures after #StuffMe
On May 3, the New Zealand Commerce Commission declined the merger application by Fairfax New Zealand and NZME (colloquially called StuffMe). This merger would have seen New Zealand’s two largest media...
View ArticlePublic Debt: How Low Should It Go?
I asked him [Keynes] if he would borrow if he were in New Zealand in order to get through the crisis. Keynes replied, ‘Yes, certainly if I were you I would borrow if I could, but if you asked me as a...
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Budget 2017: What tax cuts?
One of the interesting trends of the National Government’s budgets has been how it has been able to raise tax revenue practically unnoticed. Attention has largely focused on income tax rates and, to a...
View ArticleWhat is a good outcome? Social investment and child abuse prevention
Child protection services are in a process of ongoing reform, including the Vulnerable Child Reforms of 2011-2014 and, more recently, the creation of the new Ministry for Vulnerable Children | Oranga...
View ArticleReflections on the Child Youth and Family Review: On evidence and prevention
This Briefing Paper critiques two aspects of the recent CYFS Review process of child protection services. A wider analysis of the process is in my longer report, an extract from which has also been...
View ArticleFair Borders?: Migration Policy in the Twenty-First Century
Late last year, it struck me as obvious that the issue of immigration would catch fire come election time. The kindling was set; the matchbox within reach. So I decided to publish a book on the...
View ArticleA New Zealand Community Living Standards Review?
New Zealand’s system of income redistribution is complex. It includes accident compensation, New Zealand Superannuation, minimum wages, tax thresholds, tax credits for families (such as Working for...
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House prices relative to inflation
This Briefing Paper is part of a longer report on housing prices, available on The Policy Observatory website, here. Historically housing prices in New Zealand have risen a little faster than...
View ArticleIntroducing a Universal Basic Income in New Zealand – Insights from the...
Finland began a Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot at the start of 2017. Will its findings be useful in informing the policy debate in New Zealand? The idea of a UBI scheme has attracted growing...
View ArticleIt will take courage to clean up the welfare mess
It took courage for Metiria Turei to challenge the welfare mess that has emerged over the past four decades whilst at the same time owning up to the way in which she exploited the welfare system to...
View ArticleVarieties of Skills Regimes: New Zealand in Comparative Context
One positive recent development in the study of comparative political economy is the increased amount of attention given to skills formation, especially the role that vocational education and training...
View ArticlePower imbalances in local vs central government
Local government in New Zealand is a creature of statute, so it’s subservient to powers bestowed upon it by central government. From the creation of its mandate and structure, to the reforms imposed...
View ArticleAuckland deserves better
In his Briefing Paper published in December 2014, John Clarke wrote: “New Zealand is the most beautiful country in the world”. If, like me, he had spent time in Auckland he might have singled out this...
View ArticleRestructuring individuals: The use of sanctions in New Zealand’s welfare system
According to Kingfisher (1999), the welfare system in New Zealand is increasingly oriented around the need to restructure individuals, rather than systems. This has become more visible recently through...
View ArticleMMP has come of age
In 1986 a Royal Commission appointed by the Lange Labour government introduced to a largely incredulous nation a strange new acronym – MMP. What followed was a decade of extraordinary angst, advocacy...
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Transforming to a prison-free society
In 2011 New Zealand had the seventh highest incarceration rate out of 34 countries outstripping those in the European jurisdictions and Australia, making far-fetched the claims that New Zealand’s...
View ArticleLimits to growth?
Mounting concern with housing, transport and diversity issues in Auckland point to a consensus that growth trends are exceeding our ability to readily cope. This is aggravated by reports that portions...
View ArticleHow MMP Works: Freestyle bargaining
Understanding that you have two votes, and what each is for, is fairly straightforward. But once the votes are in, what happens? New Zealand is making MMP up as we go along. We have what is called a...
View ArticleGrand Coalitions: Finland and New Zealand
In the aftermath of the 2017 general election, the likely options for a coalition government of New Zealand seem to be narrowed down to only two main options: a National Party–NZ First or a...
View ArticleThe interrelatedness of environmental problems
Environmental problems started to generate widespread concern from the 1960s. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, is often credited with kicking off the modern environmental movement. The...
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