When Germany’s statistics office released the economic growth rate for the second quarter, the disappointing 0.1 percent decline added to the troubles on Wall St. Little wonder stock markets are looking anxiously at Germany: the German economy remains the largest in Europe and the fourth largest in the world (behind only the United States, China and Japan). Read more

On Monday, Adrian Orr was interviewed on TV One’s Q+A programme. If you had not known that Orr is the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, you could have mistaken him for a politician. Read more

When US President John F. Kennedy approved the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, he relied on advice from his staff, the defence force and the secret service. Read more

After spending the past half a year watching the Brexit drama unfold, it’s easy to forget another Euro crisis is still simmering: that of Europe’s monetary union. For many years, starting with Greece’s sovereign debt crisis in late 2009, the Euro crisis was a staple of our daily news consumption. Read more

On Wednesday 7 August, the Reserve Bank is likely to cut the OCR to a new record low of 1.25%. Kiwibank economists are already predicting that the OCR could be slashed even further to 0.75% next year. Read more

When the smallish Skatbank, a direct bank based in Germany’s east, started charging its wealthy private depositors interest in November 2014, it made international headlines. It was the first German bank to do so, and negative interest rates were still regarded as a ridiculous aberration. Read more

A collegial relationship between Treasury and the Reserve Bank is a good thing in principle. Monetary and fiscal policy remain the most important levers of economic policy, and the two institutions in charge of those levers need to exchange their views. Read more

He famously claimed his chances of becoming Prime Minister were “about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive”. It probably means Boris Johnson will be a pizza topping in his next life. Read more

All’s well that ends well. There is a temptation to sum up the resolution of the European Union’s personnel-finding troubles in such a Shakespearean way. Read more

In late June, the Initiative took a delegation of our members to Copenhagen. For a week, more than three dozen New Zealand business leaders traveled Denmark and South Sweden. Read more

Next week, The New Zealand Initiative will be taking a delegation of more than three dozen senior business leaders to Copenhagen. Our members want to study and experience first-hand what makes Denmark one of the world’s most successful small countries. Read more