I’m not a fan of paternalism but in one area it has its place: education. Students should be able to choose from a range of disciplines to find the one that best suits their inclinations, interests and future career ambitions. Read more
If you believe political pundits, New Zealand will go to the polls in late 2017. It could well be an election fought on personalities rather than on substance. Read more
There is no poverty in New Zealand. Child poverty is a major problem. Read more
“Education is the key, the key to what, which house, which doorway?” were the words neatly inscribed on a visibly stressed cue card as I trembled in front of my peers delivering the dreaded Form 6 speech, over 15 years ago. How things come full circle. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich of The New Zealand Initiative appeared on The Paul Henry Show on 16 July 2015 to discuss dairy prices and the dairy auction. Read more
I don't think there has ever been a better time to pull out Homer Simpson's term "crisitunity". As everyone knows, the Chinese character for crisis combines danger with opportunity - hence crisitunity. Read more
Now that the Greek banks have re-opened, the third bailout package is on the way and something vaguely resembling normalcy is returning to Greece, we can finally deal with other things again: the euro crisis, for example. You may object that what kept us so excited, frightened and busy over the past few months was the euro crisis. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich talks about local government finances with Mike Hosking. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich on ABC Radio: Is Germany and the EU to blame for Greece? Read more
This week, Local Government New Zealand launched a funding reform pitch at central government, broadly making a case that if you want the national economy to grow, you need to fund the enablers of that growth better. This is certainly not the first such pitch that the local government sector has made to officials in Wellington on the matter. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative's 2015-2017 research programme will have a key focus on social policy, local government funding and housing affordability, and education. The 2015-2017 research programme will build on the Initiative’s prior reports, which are all available on this website. Read more
Wellington (21 July 2015): If we want to fix housing affordability, we have to make sure that growing cities are in local government’s financial interest. The New Zealand Initiative today welcomed Local Government New Zealand’s Local Government Funding Review. Read more
Dr Oliver Hartwich on 2GB Radio discussing Greece. Read more
If one wanted to summarise all of economics in just one word, what would it be? For obvious reasons it cannot be “supply and demand” (because that is three words). Read more
From Sunday, my colleague Jason Krupp and I will be attending the annual Local Government New Zealand conference. It is LGNZ’s flagship event of the year, bringing together 600 delegates from New Zealand's councils along with key players from the private sector, business, government and non-government agencies. Read more