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It is a fine line between commemorating and glorifying wars. The centenary of World War I is a good opportunity to reflect what this war, and other wars, mean to us today. Read more
Dear New Zealand, We need to talk about racism. Because if the term continues to be misused, it will cease to have any proper meaning. Read more
A two-page feature in the Sunday Star-Times (Aug 3) says Labour’s promise to introduce a capital gains tax and raise the top rate of income tax has put “equality” back at the heart of economic and political debate. The only concept of equality the article considers is one where the ideal is that everyone gets the same income regardless of how hard or productively they work. Read more
Among the raft of data our researchers have compiled for New Zealand by Numbers, there are quite a few surprising facts about New Zealand. Most of us would be aware of the big trends facing this country: the changing face of our population, our increasing interaction with Asia, or the increasing importance of digital technology for the way in which we communicate and receive our news. Read more
An article recently published by the New Zealand Listener, Child support that works, asserts that the existing system of child support "is next to useless at reducing poverty" - because, to a large extent "Government simply takes the child support to offset the benefit".Yet this is exactly what should happen if the purpose of the benefit is to top up inadequate child-support payments by non-custodial parents. Child-support payments allow more children to be supported than could be funded otherwise. Read more
There is a common saying that human rights are what make us human. But with the modern expansion of human rights beyond its classical origins, are we becoming more human, or less? Read more
It may be an uncomfortable truth, but there are some of us who enjoy rights and privileges above others, simply by virtue of being born. Not by talent, hard work, or any other factor reflecting merit, these people enjoy a privileged status in New Zealand. Read more
Since the publication of The Spirit Level in 2009, and its ‘devastating critique’, The Spirit Level Delusion, in 2010, debates in the media and among politicians have been gripped by wealth inequality fever. The latest instalment is French economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century – a book which is at the centre of its own maelstrom over the accuracy of its analysis. Read more
The constant striving to improve one’s lot is human nature, and people naturally move to where the opportunities lie. But when moving house and moving jobs involve children, these moves become controversial. Read more
Budget day last week was dominated by the usual focus on the return to surplus, some new spending pledges and discussions around potential future tax cuts. Soon afterward, however, commentators and politicians discovered that the Treasury papers contained some political dynamite outside the core of fiscal policy: a projected rise in net migration figures. Read more