There is no excuse for being Russian these days, not even if you are a cat. The Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) reacted swiftly to Putin’s war against Ukraine. Read more
Carbon prices are the best way of getting us to Net Zero. The Emissions Trading Scheme can get the job done if the government lets it. Read more
Double jeopardy is a defence that prevents a person being tried twice for the same offence. Unfortunately for the Government, the defence is not available for bad public policy decisions. Read more
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine combined with a global pandemic and a Reserve Bank that has forgotten its core inflation mandate do not make a case for cutting petrol excise and road user charges. And yet, here we are. Read more
The Department for Education in England recently issued guidance to teachers to remind them of legal requirements to be politically impartial when they teach sensitive topics such as the legacy of the British Empire. Commenting on the guidance, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said “contested theories and opinions must not be presented to young people as facts”. Read more
The future is notoriously hard to forecast. Just dial the clock back two years and try finding an expert predicting a year after the start of the pandemic that New Zealand would be suffering labour shortages. Read more
Putin’s war is a tragedy for Ukraine. Yet its economic implications will be felt far beyond Ukraine’s borders for years to come. Read more
From the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to the masterful wit of Jonathan Swift and Frederic Bastiat, authors have used satire to highlight follies and vices, lampoon political figures, and point out pressing societal issues. Fast forward to our modern age of content warnings, censorship, and accusations of fake news. Read more
I am excited to have commenced work at the New Zealand Initiative in early March. I come from ten years as an academic in the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington. Read more
In late January, I wrote a column arguing a Russian invasion of Ukraine was not a foregone conclusion (Russia has won the war without firing a single shot, 25 January). I wish my cautious optimism had been proven right. Read more
The Commerce Commission’s final report into retail grocery competition, released this morning, recommends legalising new grocery stores. While it is not formally illegal to start a new supermarket chain, zoning and regulatory barriers make it effectively impossible. Read more
The latest survey of New Zealand economists provides a clear steer for climate policy. Rather than use policies like fuel economy standards for imported vehicles, which target emissions already covered by the Emissions Trading Scheme’s cap on net emissions, the government should simply tighten the cap more quickly. Read more
Two years ago, the coronavirus pandemic took most of the world by surprise. Twenty-four months later, Russia's invasion of Ukraine caught us equally off-guard. Read more
Even in ordinary times, it is difficult to govern a country well. During a crisis, it requires much greater skill, experience and judgment. Read more
It was all going so well for Vladmir Putin. In the days after he invaded Ukraine, the West’s response was predictably tepid. Read more