Reports & Media

Last week might not have seemed the best time for a 25 per cent increase in Canada’s carbon tax. Fuel prices there, like here, have been increasing. Read more

Who would start a serious think tank on April Fools’ Day? Presumably someone with a good sense of humour. Read more

Ten years ago, I had the privilege of launching The New Zealand Initiative. I believed then and believe more firmly now that New Zealand needs institutions independent of government and the public purse to broaden and deepen our intellectual life. Read more

It’s hard to have a reasonable debate today. So, hats off to the Initiative team on your 10th birthday for always being up for a fight. Read more

There is potential value in having a country’s economic policies reviewed by international organisations. Done well, they provide residents with non-partisan expert perspectives. Read more

A funny thing happened on the way to Wellington’s draft Economic Wellbeing Strategy. It’s a tale as old as time. Read more

In rugby, injuries are all too common. Yet we can be certain that 15 players will start for the All Blacks in their next test. Read more

“Because there is no time for thinking and no rest in thinking, we no longer weigh divergent views; we’re content to hate them.” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that back in 1878, but he could easily have been describing the early 2020s. Perhaps it was ever thus, but I can’t help feeling the problem Nietzsche was describing has recently got a lot worse. Read more

As the saying goes, everything in fashion eventually returns. And so it seems in the economy. Read more