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WHAT'S NEW |
14 May 2008, Dan Ryan
A series of record-breaking fines in American and European competition cases is focusing attention and concern again on the power and purpose of competition regulators themselves – just ask Microsoft. So the Hong Kong government's ongoing attempt to create such a regulator of its own is puzzling, to say the least. ...more.
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9 May 2008, Janet Albrechtsen
Do not mistake the unseasonal rush of warmth over the weekend with global warming. Put it down to those advocating a charter of rights for Australia at the 2020 Summit in the nation's capital.
Their aim is to bathe us in the warm language of human rights so that, ultimately, we will soporifically sign up to a new federal charter of rights.
...more.
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9 May 2008, Roger Kerr
This week the wheels fell off the government’s climate change juggernaut – yet again.
No end is in sight to this sorry saga of grandiose plans foundering on practical realities. ...more.
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8 May 2008, Roger Kerr
With the National Party’s decision not to move any state-owned enterprises to the private sector in its first term if elected this year, we appear to have a new political consensus between the major parties in New Zealand: privatisation is bad. ...more.
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8 May 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
We see the agreement as furthering New Zealand’s efforts to become an open and competitive economy with strong links to the rest of the world. Trade liberalisation policies going back some 25 years have put the country in a sound position to benefit from freer trade with China. ...more.
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7 May 2008, Walter E. Williams
Think about several questions. Which oyster bed will yield larger, more mature oysters—a publicly owned or privately owned bed? Why is it that herds of cows are not threatened with extinction while buffalo were? Who will care for a house better—a renter or an owner? Finally, why are some societies richer than others? ...more.
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2 May 2008, Chrystia Freeland
The inescapable fact is that money and who has it ineluctably influences our views about a lot of what happens in the world. If this fact has ever made you squeamish, then you may have taken comfort from the Easterlin Paradox. ...more.
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30 April 2008, James Q. Wilson
In the last 10 years, the effect of prison on crime rates has been studied by many scholars… Among them is Steven Levitt, coauthor of "Freakonomics." He and others have shown that states that sent a higher fraction of convicts to prison had lower rates of crime, even after controlling for all of the other ways (poverty, urbanization and the proportion of young men in the population) that the states differed. A high risk of punishment reduces crime. Deterrence works. ...more.
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29 April 2008, Roger Kerr
Finance minister Michael Cullen has been urging employers to lift wages to close the wage gap with Australia and stem the exodus of workers across the Tasman.
Why don’t employers simply raise wages and stop the stampede?
...more.
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29 April 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
“Tax Freedom Day this year is 29 April, as far as the central government tax burden is concerned”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today. ...more.
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25 April 2008, Roger Kerr
The government’s flagship ‘Closing the Gaps’ programme, focused on closing gaps between Maori and non-Maori and put in place after it was elected in 1999, was abandoned within a year. Its focus then shifted to closing the income gaps with the top half of the OECD. However, 10 years later (taking into account forecasts), it will not have moved New Zealand one rung up the ladder.The National Party talks about closing the wage gap with Australia, but it is doubtful whether the policies it has so far put forward would do anything to narrow it. The task is extremely challenging. ...more.
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24 April 2008, Nima Sanandaji
Siamak Alian is something of a rarity in a Scandinavian welfare state -- a successful immigrant entrepreneur. Mr. Alian came to Sweden in 1989 with a degree in nuclear physics from the University of Tehran. Unable to find a job in his field, he pursued a degree in electronics and alongside his studies founded a computer equipment import company. Within six years, his firm grossed some €10 million annually. ...more.
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23 April 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The starting point for the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance should not be to decide whether Auckland should be divided into one or several cities, but rather to determine what the proper functions of local government in the region are, according to a submission presented to the Royal Commission by the New Zealand Business Roundtable. ...more.
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23 April 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The Business Roundtable believes that the mandate of local authorities should be more tightly constrained. As a general rule, councils should only be permitted to engage in those activities, including regulatoryactivities, that fall within the proper role of government (as opposed to the private sector) and that should be the responsibility of local rather than central government. These core roles of councils should be enumerated in legislation. ...more.
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22 April 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
The Business Roundtable has had reservations about the TSO from the outset and agrees it is now outdated. It fails most, if not all, tests of good public policy. It is hugely distortionary and gives rise to unnecessary and wasteful disputation. ...more.
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18 April 2008, Ronald Bailey
In the last year, the price of wheat has tripled, corn doubled, and rice almost doubled. As prices soared, food riots have broken out in about 20 poor countries including Yemen, Haiti, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, and Mexico. In response some countries, such as India, Pakistan, Egypt and Vietnam, are banning the export of grains and imposing food price controls. ...more.
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17 April 2008, G. Tracy Mehan
It is one of the great ironies of America. In the most capitalist, free-market nation in the world, most citizens receive their water and wastewater services from government entities. Contrast this with the United Kingdom, where almost all water services are provided by private systems. ...more.
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16 April 2008, Norman LaRocque
Tonight I want to talk about tuition fees and student support. This is particularly relevant in Hamilton, a city that hosts a major university and institute of technology, as well as several private training establishments. ...more.
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16 April 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
“Although wages in Australia are already some 30 percent higher than in New Zealand, a comparison of productivity growth trends in the two countries suggests that the income gap between them will increase even further under present policies”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today. ...more.
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16 April 2008, John Tamny
Microsoft founder Bill Gates used the splendor of the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday to promote what he deems a new, kinder form of capitalism. Though he didn’t shun its fruits altogether, it is his hope that we can “find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.”
With all due respect to the world’s richest man, the poor that he seeks to help should hope his vision is merely a vanity concept for him, rather than some form of capitalism-light to be foisted on the oblivious masses. ...more.
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11 April 2008, Maria Rankka
The Swedish economy has often been compared with a bumblebee, whose ability to fly can only be explained by its ignorance of aerodynamics and physics. Proponents of the Swedish model claim Sweden is proof that, counter to conventional wisdom, big government and economic growth can peacefully coexist.Though there certainly are positive as well as negative lessons to be learned from Sweden, one should be wary of those who claim causal relationships between Sweden's welfare state and its historic economic achievements. The parts of the welfare state that work the best today are the parts that have been reformed, where competition and private alternatives are allowed. ...more.
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11 April 2008, Roger Kerr
Hong Kong (now a Special Administrative Region of China) is a remarkable place.
Few who visit fail to be impressed by the work ethic of its people and its energy, dynamism and prosperity. ...more.
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9 April 2008, Wolfgang Kasper
Do the many people who interact in financial markets to determine interest rates, look at the rear vision mirror, through side windows or out the front? Experience and economic theory teach us that financial markets are dominated by expectations, not surprising because credit contracts relate to the future. ...more.
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8 April 2008, Gerald W. Scully
One of government’s biggest challenges is to develop policies that raise the standard of living in a society without creating large income gaps between the rich and poor. But to a great extent, raising living standards and redistributing income are mutually exclusive goals. ...more.
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7 April 2008, New Zealand Business Roundtable
“The free trade agreement with China is a major achievement and the government and its officials are to be congratulated on their success in bringing it about”, Rob McLeod, chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today. ...more.
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