Caversham Class

This entry was posted in Listener, Political Economy & History on 24th February 1996 by Brian Easton.

The Marked Increase in Economic Inequality Has Widened Society’s Class Divisions.
Listener: 24 February, 1996.

Keywords: Political Economy & History;

Erik Olssen’s just published Building the New World is an outstanding contribution to New Zealand historiography and to our understanding of the origins of modern New Zealand society. Over the years he, his colleagues at the University of Otago, and their students have built up a detailed picture of the life, work, politics, and society, in the Dunedin working-class suburb of Caversham in the period from the 1880s to 1920s. Olssen points out that what happened in Dunedin 90 years ago may not apply elsewhere, or at other times. But having grown up in Sydenham, a comparable Christchurch suburb, I was intrigued by the resonances with my experience, especially about social class.

Action and Reaction

This entry was posted in Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on 10th February 1996 by Brian Easton.

Do We Need A Reserve Bank in New Zealand?
Listener: 10 February 1996

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

The inability of the American government to manage its budget is notorious. In the early 1980s the Reagan administration and the US parliament cut taxes, raise military spending, and end up with a huge government deficit. As I write, over a decade later their successors, Bill Clinton and Congress led by Newt Gringrich, are still struggling with that heritage hoping to eliminate the deficit in another seven years. While the deficit stimulated the US (and world) economy during the 1980s, the rising debt as a proportion of GDP, poses a threat to the viability of the US and world economy. The President and the Congress know this, but they have not be very good at doing anything about it.