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When presenting Budget 2021 last week, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced that work is underway to develop an unemployment insurance scheme. Details are limited. Read more

As American historian and philosopher Will Durant observed, "Civilisation is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew." That is a more polite way of saying that humans make mistakes, cause damage, then repair the mess. . Read more

Last week’s government budget reinforced the sense of fiscal fantasy that arises when one contemplates the unprecedented deficit spending funded by central bank credit creation occurring here and elsewhere. The government plans to borrow around $30 billion net in the coming fiscal year. Read more

The biggest risk to New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme isn’t technical issues in how the scheme is run or in its accounting. The biggest risk instead is politics. Read more

I was very disappointed with the recent housing announcements. Partly because they will increase my rent. Read more

As economics Nobel laureate Paul Krugman once put it, “Productivity isn’t everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything.” Which makes you wonder what Krugman would think of yesterday’s Budget. Hidden behind headlines of benefit increases, spending initiatives and a new unemployment insurance scheme lies a worrying small detail. Read more

In colonial India, Delhi had a little problem with cobras. Since cobras can cause unpleasant things, like death, a solution was needed. Read more