Reports & Media

As anyone with a marketing background will tell you, humans are simple creatures. We have an appetite for the new. Read more

Good cop, bad cop: That is the game that the Greek government is playing. While Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis keeps annoying his European counterparts with long monologues and provocative statements (when he is not busy giving interviews), Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at least tries to present himself as a responsible leader willing to engage in dialogue, even if he rarely commits to anything. Read more

Judging by the excitement the Government’s announcement on social bonds has created, a revolution in social services must be just around the corner. According to critics like Labour’s Annette King, social bonds amount to a covert “privatisation”of the sector. Read more

New Zealand schoolkids' performance on international maths tests leaves a bit to be desired. Both the Programme for International Student Assessment test (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the two main global benchmarks, show declining scores. Read more

All eyes are on Greece again this week. The Greek debt crisis was on the agenda of the G7 meeting in Germany last week, and discussed on the sides of a Europe and Latin America summit in Brussels. Read more

Last week saw a bustle of reports showing, once again, that maths learning is not up to scratch in New Zealand. A report commissioned by the Ministry of Education found that in 2013, 41% of Year 8 students were not achieving in maths at the expected level, with holes in fractions, decimals, percentages, and pro-numerals. Read more

It is too early to judge social bonds, writes Jenesa Jeram. For a concept few people had heard of before, social bonds have attracted a fair bit of criticism very quickly. Read more

This week, the OECD released its economic survey of New Zealand. Its 149 pages provide a comprehensive overview of the New Zealand economy, its strengths and weaknesses. Read more

The death of Lecretia Seales and Justice David Collins’ ruling that it is Parliament’s job to decide on the right to death has again breathed life into the controversial topic of euthanasia. ACT leader and MP David Seymour has seized on this momentum and promised to file a private member’s bill on the issue in the next few weeks. Read more

From mammoth bone huts in 16,000 BC and 3rd century French chateaux, to modern 20th century pre-fab, the evolution of housing through the centuries makes for pretty fascinating stuff. Skip to the 21st century and a Chinese construction company has developed a process for 3D-printing houses. Read more