Journalist Bernard Hickey joins host Duncan Greive for a wide-ranging chat about the challenges faced by New Zealand media and why he’s launched a new subscription-only daily email. First published November 6, 2020. Working at the intersection of politics and economics, Bernard Hickey is one of the most interesting and unique journalists in New Zealand … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he’s joined by economist Tony Alexander. As chief economist at the BNZ for 25 years, Tony Alexander held one of the … Read more
As 2020 draws to a close, Michael Andrew asks the economists what they made of a year of dire forecasts, record spikes, lockdowns, recessions and resilience. It’s April 2020, New Zealand is in the middle of the nationwide level four lockdown, and I’m on the phone with my old university lecturer, Professor Paul Hansen – … Read more
In new series Coming Home, Duncan Greive and Jane Yee meet some of the many highly skilled New Zealanders who’ve returned in 2020 to hear their stories and explore what their return means for all of us. The pandemic has handed New Zealand a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – how do we stop it slipping through our … Read more
Journalist Bernard Hickey joins host Duncan Greive for a wide-ranging chat about the challenges faced by New Zealand media and why he’s launched a new subscription-only daily email. Working at the intersection of politics and economics, Bernard Hickey is one of the most interesting and unique journalists in New Zealand today. As you’ll hear in … Read more
Covid-19 is still having a disproportionate impact on employment across the genders. Kiwibank economist Mary Jo Vergara explains the trends, consequences and what could it mean for the gender pay gap. The latest labour market statistics for the September quarter came with few obvious surprises. The unemployment rate increased to a lower-than-expected 5.3%, and the … Read more
New Zealand’s unemployment rate has just fallen, defying experts and flying in the face of everything we expected. But according to Stats NZ, the devil is in the detail. What’s all this then? In a bizarre turn of events, New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has actually fallen from 4.2% to 4% for the June … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin Classics, $24) Joint winner of the 2019 Booker prize. That was in October … Read more
After almost 50 years, New Zealand’s only aluminium smelter is due to close next August. We take a look at what it means for the economy and the environment. What’s all this then? Multinational metal and mining corporation Rio Tinto has today announced it is planning to close the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in Southland … Read more
Despite dark clouds on the horizon, New Zealand’s post-lockdown spending spree is still going strong. Mary Jo Vergara from Kiwi Economics shares insights into what’s driving it – and how long it will last. Covid-19 and the level four lockdown has bought about some dramatic shifts in New Zealanders’ spending and consumption habits, and many … Read more
Based on the latest Kiwi Economics data, Kiwibank senior economist Jeremy Couchman explores what fresh economic shoots could be growing in the fertile ground left by Covid-19. New Zealand has done extremely well to crush the Covid-19 curve and allow the rapid reopening of the economy. At Kiwibank we have been pleasantly surprised at the … Read more
It’s not often that someone graduates from university one year and becomes a senior economist commentating on national media the next. George Driver investigates the meteoric rise of the high-flying Brad Olsen. Google “senior economist Brad Olsen” and you’ll find him quoted in no fewer than 167 articles in the past year, speaking on just … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin Classics, $24) Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. The other day, Evaristo tweeted: … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Peters throws New Zealand into the fray over Taiwan’s WHO inclusion, more detail emerges on legality of lockdown, and a potentially major decision for the courier industry. The government wouldn’t frame it in such a way, but they’ve made several recent moves which indicate they’re … Read more
For all its petitions and protests, the left is too invested in its own privilege to upend ‘hypercapitalism’, Thomas Piketty argues in his latest book Capital and Ideology – so it’s time to conjure something new. It is a very long book. I started it some time in late December when the electoral defeat of … Read more
We’re only just beginning to understand the vast political ramifications of the coronavirus, both here and around the world, writes Colin James. What comes after Covid-19? Not business as usual. The global virus is a disjunctive shock and such a shock sets up a chain reaction that changes the order of things. That there is … Read more
Financial markets around the world have been jumpy this week, with fears around the coronavirus putting them on edge. What does it mean for New Zealand? US Stocks Plummet Amid Oil Fears. Wall Street Plunges in Worst Drop Since 2008. Sharemarket Recovers From Sharp Losses. Bold headlines have dominated the business news over the past … Read more
Covering Climate Now: It’s easy to indulge in the idea that individual actions can’t have an impact on climate change. But a few simple ideas from economics show how wrong that is, argues Waikato University lecturer in environmental economics Zack Dorner. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to the contributions … Read more
The government’s plan to avoid another ‘fiscal hole’ fiasco has an unlikely fan: the chief economist of the corporate think tank New Zealand Initiative. Eric Crampton explains what else it could do. Have you ever driven past one of those stores that mostly sells blinds but calls itself ‘Not Just Blinds’ and wondered whether they … Read more
The 700-page Thomas Piketty economic treatise Capital in the 21st Century was a surprise blockbuster five years ago. Now it’s been made into a documentary film, directed and produced by New Zealanders. The message is out there, Danyl Mclauchlan writes – but are enough people listening? Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century enjoyed about … Read more
The 2019 budget is coming out this Thursday, and with it a whole bunch of impenetrable jargon. We’ve picked out some of the key words to keep in mind as it is being read. A Ambitious The last budget was typically described as ambitious. Now the word gets thrown around a lot to describe the … Read more
What does an ageing population actually mean in an economic context, and are we thinking about it all wrong? Experts Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov weigh in. This piece was originally published on The Conversation. In 1950, men and women at age 65 could expect to live about 11 years more on average. Today, that number … Read more
From Monday almost 100 NZ exporters are taking part in the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. The forum heralds a more prosperous and integrated China, but it takes place against the background of a debilitating trade war, writes Stephen Jacobi of the NZ International Business Forum Competing economic visions will need to find a … Read more
The Single Object is a series exploring our material culture, examining the meaning and influence of objects that surround us in everyday life. In the second piece in the series, Danyl Mclauchlan visits the Reserve Bank to inspect Bill Phillip’s MONIAC. It looks like an artifact from an alternate timeline. MONIAC is about two metres … Read more
Given he’s regarded as a leader from the pragmatic centrist side of the National Party, it was puzzling to hear Simon Bridges this morning apparently endorse trickle-down theory. “I think there is some trickle-down effect actually, and a lot of people say no, no no,” said Bridges on The AM Show this morning, when questioned … Read more
Here we come and we are analysing fiscal data, cheers Eric Crampton, as he lays out a compelling argument for an international economists’ regatta that will pump cash into the NZ economy. I know you’re going to be sceptical about this but hear me out. The 2021 Economist’s Cup should be held in Wellington. This … Read more
One of the originators of ‘nudge’ theory – the idea that small prompts can have big effects on behaviour – was this week awarded the 2017 Nobel prize for economics. But not all nudges are created equal, argues the New Zealand Initiative’s Jenesa Jeram. What is the difference between automatically enrolling workers in KiwiSaver and … Read more
Bryan Bruce’s documentary Who owns New Zealand now? – which screened on Three last night in primetime – is a deeply problematic sequel to Labour’s ‘Chinese-sounding names’ fiasco of 2015, writes Duncan Greive. “There’s been about a trillion dollars that has left China in the last year or so,” intones the voice-over ominously, over flowing strings … Read more
Yesterday Steven Joyce claimed there was a giant hole in Labour’s books. We asked a lot of economists and accountants whether the claim was correct. Extraordinary elections bring out extraordinary accusations. Yesterday brought the most monumental of this election so far, when National’s finance boss Steven Joyce claimed to have found a $11.7bn hole in … Read more