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Displaying: 1 - 32 of 362 items.
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Setting the Sails
28 November 2011, Roger Partridge
Prime minister John Key observed that the 2011 election was about the economy.
Business people are looking to the incoming government to address critical weaknesses in our economy and implement policies to boost economic growth.
The two main economic problems the country faces are structural imbalances and the slump in productivity growth.
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It's about ownership, not assets
24 November 2011, Bryce Wilkinson
National and Labour are to be commended in this election campaign for proposing to sell shares in SOEs and to raise the age of entitlement for New Zealand Superannuation respectively. Both proposals have a clear national interest rationale, but took political courage.
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Tribute to Roger Kerr
11 November 2011, Janet Albrechtsen
Many people have good intentions. Some fall for the fatal conceit that good intentions are all that count. Far fewer are able to couple good intentions with positive results. Roger Kerr, who died on October 28 in Wellington, was one of the few who did both. Most people won't know that Kerr played a critical role in turning around the economic fortunes of New Zealand in the 1980s, which is why this largely unknown man ought to be saluted.
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Roger Kerr RIP
8 November 2011, Mary Kissel
The Reagan revolution wasn't an isolated movement, but one that was echoed from the shores of Britain to as far away as the Antipodes. One of the great stalwarts of that free-market agenda, Roger Kerr, passed away last month in Wellington, New Zealand, at the age of 66. He will be missed.
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Controller and Auditor-Generals Report Misses the Point
4 November 2011, Bryce Wilkinson
The rushed Crown Retail Deposit Scheme introduced by the previous government at the onset of the 2008 general election campaign has cost taxpayers about $2 billion to date of which about $0.9 billion may yet be recovered according to a report this month by the Controller and Auditor General.
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Roger Kerr 1945-2011: An Appreciation
31 October 2011, Richard A Epstein
Earlier this morning I received a simple email from Catherine Isaac that “Roger passed away peacefully at home last night surrounded by his family.” That brief email came as no surprise, because her previous communications had indicated that all treatment options had been exhausted. But for me that short message marks the sad end of an era in my personal life.
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Anyone for Another Vote?
21 October 2011, Roger Kerr
New Zealanders don't get to vote very often about parliamentary matters. On 26 November we get to vote in the general election and on the future of MMP. We can be thankful that we live in a country with such firmly rooted democratic freedoms.
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Political Shortcomings of MMP
14 October 2011, Roger Kerr
I would care less about the adverse economic consequences of our mixed member proportional (MMP) voting system, which were outlined in my last article, if they reflected the genuine democratic preferences of New Zealanders. They are unlikely to do so, however, because of the constitutional and political weaknesses of MMP.
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Does Workfare Work?
7 October 2011, Roger Kerr
Work-for-the-dole or ‘workfare’ schemes frequently appear on the menu of measures considered by welfare reformers. Indeed the Welfare Working Group proposed one in its final report, currently being considered by the government as part of its election manifesto. Do such schemes work, and what are they intended to achieve?
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Judgment Day for MMP
30 September 2011, Roger Kerr
The importance of the referendum for the future prosperity of the country arguably dwarfs the outcome of the general election. The referendum will be held when the risks to global prosperity are the gravest since the Great Depression.
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Lessons for Government from Households' Investments Management
23 September 2011, Roger Kerr
At any point in time a household has a collection of assets that it owns – a house, a car, an interest in Kiwisaver, or maybe a some shares or a rental property. Few people think of their portfolios as fixed forever.
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No Need to Idolise the Rich
16 September 2011, Roger Kerr
The virtues of allowing people to spend their own money while widening their opportunities through open competitive markets should not be disparaged as favouring the interests of rich people. Indeed one of the most important aspects of economics is, in my view, the application of orthodox principles to raising people out of poverty.
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The Diabolical Student Loan Problem
9 September 2011, Roger Kerr
The student loans scheme was introduced in 1992. It provided loans to tertiary students for tuition fees, and course-related and living costs. The loans were repayable (at the rate of 10 cents in the dollar) only when the borrower's income exceeded a threshold.
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Have Business Leaders Lost Their Mojo?
2 September 2011, Roger Kerr
I was struck by a recent ‘economic state of the nation’ article by award-winning business journalist, Jenni McManus. The article was a kind of valedictory for McManus, one of this country’s finest journalists, who recently left the media for the corporate world.
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From Passive to Conditional Welfare
26 August 2011, Roger Kerr
Recently John Key announced plans to introduce a form of what’s known in the world of welfare as income management. The hands-on approach, targeting ‘disengaged’ 16 and 17 year-olds and teen sole parents, would put oversight of their benefits into the hands of private sector social service organisations.
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Opposition to Regulatory Bill Utterly Predictable
19 August 2011, Roger Kerr
All seven members of the Regulatory Responsibility Taskforce that unanimously recommended the current bill operated in the private sector. Unsurprisingly, all government departments that reported to ministers on the bill opposed it. The natural tendency of bureaucracies is to extend their budgets and powers, and resist attempts to constrain them.
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Dunes Flyer
16 August 2011, Dunes 2011
Dunes 2011
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Dunes Registration
16 August 2011, Dunes 2011
Registration form
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Local Government in the Wellington Region
15 August 2011, Roger Kerr
I agree with Mayor Celia Wade-Brown that Wellington should not blindly follow the Auckland ‘super city’ model. The argument that it should do so to exercise more influence with central government is weak.
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Education: For Many There Is No Choice
12 August 2011, Roger kerr
Political leaders need to wake up to the vital relationship between enabling school choice and lifting educational achievement, before more generations of our children are consigned to educational failure.
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Tax: Facts and Fallacies
5 August 2011, Roger Kerr
There has been a flurry of debate on tax issues recently, prompted by Labour’s tax package. The most unfortunate feature of the total package is that it is focused on income and wealth redistribution, not economic growth – to an even greater extent than the policies of the last Labour government. This is no way to raise overall living standards.
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Are Warnings About Minimum Wages Dickensian?
29 July 2011, Roger Kerr
A recent correspondent to the ODT wrote, “Reading Roger Kerr’s position on the minimum wage I am left wondering if he is a real person or a character from a Dickens novel.” I decided to regard the feedback as a challenge: how does one get across the potentially harmful effects of minimum wages to those who see them as self-evidently beneficial?
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Productivity Commission Should Examine Kiwifruit Monopoly
22 July 2011, Roger Kerr
Every Econ 101 student learns that monopolies are bad. They maximise profits by restricting output and raising prices. Consumers are exploited and national income is lower than it would otherwise be. How does this analysis carry over to the statutory monopoly enjoyed by New Zealand’s kiwifruit exporter Zespri?
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Teach Your Children Well
15 July 2011, Roger Kerr
A young family friend completing her general practitioner training at a South Auckland medical centre recently told me of a difficult task: she’d had to break the news to a 15 year-old schoolgirl that her pregnancy test was positive. To the young doctor’s great surprise, the girl, on hearing the result, punched the air with her fist and shouted elatedly “Yes!”
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Property Rights, Regulatory Takings, and Compensation
8 July 2011, Roger Kerr
New Zealand is not a banana republic but it has taken too many steps in that direction. An ongoing pattern of takings without compensation will increase our sovereign risk premium and threaten our future prosperity.
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New Zealand: A Ban-Happy Country
1 July 2011, Roger Kerr
An ingrained New Zealand characteristic is the urge to ban things that some people don’t like. Part of the urge may stem from our propensity for knee-jerk reactions to social problems.
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The Superannuation Age: Breaking The Impasse
27 June 2011, Roger Kerr
Public opinion sometimes runs ahead of political opinion. A case in point may be the issue of raising the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation, currently 65. Last month a Herald-DigiPol survey showed a clear majority – 52.3 percent of respondents – thought the government should be planning now for such a move.
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Welfare Reform: Removing Barriers to Employment
24 June 2011, Roger Kerr
The government is evaluating the recommendations of the Welfare Working Group with a view to including welfare reform in its election manifesto. The group’s report, launched just before Canterbury’s February earthquake, has not yet had the attention it deserves. The 180-page report and its 43 recommendations take some digesting, but it’s worth the effort.
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If We Know What To Do Why Don't We Do It?
17 June 2011, Roger Kerr
Last week journalist Deborah Hill Cone posed an interesting question. If we know what it takes to be a prosperous country, why don’t we do it?, she asked.
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Minimum Wage Claims Make Minimum Sense
3 June 2011, Roger Kerr
Labour leader Phil Goff argued that unemployment went down, not up, when the last Labour-led government hiked minimum wages, and that the increased spending power of workers would grow the economy. Some simple tests help us to evaluate these claims.
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Budget 2011 Doesn't Solve Serious Problems
26 May 2011, Roger Kerr
Some have described the 2011 budget as cautious and safe. Cautious, yes. Safe – maybe politically, but not in terms of removing economic risks. And no one to my knowledge described it as strategic – constituting a coherent, medium-term plan for restoring balanced growth.
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Education Lessons From Abroad
23 May 2011, Roger Kerr
Many countries provide lessons in education for New Zealand. Julia Gillard’s Labor government in Australia is introducing a $1.3 billion bonus scheme for top teachers. The UK government is introducing Swedish-style reforms. Finland, Korea and Singapore, which rank high in international league tables, offer other lessons.
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