The Gone By Lunchtime team returns, with more hot takes than a jalapeno thief. In the latest medium-intensity-hitting Spinoff politics podcast, Toby Manhire is joined by Annabelle Lee of The Hui and Ben Thomas of Exceltium to sigh, pontificate and radio-jingle on a range of subjects including a dramatic UK election and what it means for New Zealand, … Read more
Money may not be important in the big scheme of things, but where money gets put, and how much, tells us volumes about what the government thinks it is doing right. And our government thinks things are going pretty well, writes the Morgan Foundation’s Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw. As peculiar as it is in the context … Read more
The government’s budget announcement trumpeted a new $224 million spend on mental health – but is the plan really as impressive as it sounds? Kyle MacDonald digs into the numbers. If you’ve ever shopped around trying to compare mobile phone plans or power company rates, you know how hard it can be to figure out … Read more
Budget 2017: After a year of taking heavy shots from the opposition, National responded with a 1-2 of their own with today’s budget announcements, writes Ben Thomas. Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. Steven Joyce, bomaye. Translated from Lingala to internet English, that basically means “Steve Joyce, slay!”. The catchcry was popularised by fans … Read more
Tax cuts, more money for infrastructure, and catch-up spending on a raft of areas where it had previously been frozen. All well and good, says economist Shamubeel Eaqub, but what about housing? Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. Steven Joyce delivered his first Budget and it was carefully calculated to maximise impact in an … Read more
Does the minister of finance understand the needs of Auckland? He lives here, so of course he does, right? Here are five things, and the speech to accompany them, that Simon Wilson would love to hear Steven Joyce deliver in his first budget speech today. Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. 1. “Every child … Read more
Budget 2017: We invited Eric Crampton to make the argument for a tax cut. Here he offers the case for a modest cut to reflect inflation, the case for a more substantial cut, and, for good measure, a dumb case Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. There are a lot of dumb cases for … Read more
Budget 2017: What does it all mean and why should we care? Over to you, Morgan Godfery Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. The only thing duller than accounting is government accounting. What’s an “OBEGAL”? Why are politicians debating “appropriations”? What kind of terrible person would volunteer for the “budget lock-up”? For “ordinary New … Read more
Budget 2017: I had a dream of an evidence-based budget for a thriving New Zealand, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw, head of research at policy think tank The Morgan Foundation. Read all out Budget 2017 coverage here. In my dream it was budget day. Pre-empting the finance minister, joint prime ministers Chlöe Swarbrick and Nikki Kaye leapt … Read more
Budget 2017: Bill English has been trumpeting the “social investment approach” as a core part of his thinking, and it underpins much of this week’s budget. For economist Simon Chapple, however, it amounts to a rhetorical banner that obscures standard centre-right political goals Dr Simon Chapple has held senior economist and public policy roles in New Zealand … Read more