Monthly Archives: July 1998

All for One: Robert Reich’s Recipe Living in a Globalized World

This entry was posted in Globalisation & Trade, Listener on by .

Listener 18 July, 1998.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;

Robert Reich, Clinton’s previous Secretary of Labour, is a living embodiment of his own theories. His The Work of Nations argued that globalization has made it is increasingly hard to say where a particular product is produced, because the various components are made in many different countries. A Japanese marque car may have more American content than an American marque which uses Japanese components. (Either may have New Zealand made wheel hubs.) It is also true for Reich, for his artificial hips come from Germany, and were designed in France.

The Politics and Sociology Of Economic Forecasting

This entry was posted in Macroeconomics & Money on by .

This is an extended version of an article published in The New Zealand Herald July 7, 1998.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

Last week parliamentary leader of ACT, Richard Prebble, called for the resignation of the Secretary of the Treasury, Alan Bollard, because of inadequate Treasury economic forecasts. The call is so political that it may be dismissed as silly, but it also raises wider questions about economic forecasting in general.

In Stormy Seas: Can We Cope when a Wave Broadsides Our Economy?

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on by .

Listener 4 July, 1998.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money;

“Small open economies are like rowing boats on an open sea. One cannot predict when they might capsize; bad steering increases the chances of disaster and a leaky boat makes it inevitable. But their chances of being broadsided by a wave are significant, no matter how well they are steered and no matter how seaworthy they are.” Joe Stiglitz, World Bank chief economist.

The Ownership, Management, and Regulation Of Water (and Wastewater)

This entry was posted in Environment & Resources, Regulation & Taxation on by .

Presentation to the Annual Conference of the Rural Sector of Local Government New Zealand: July 1, 1998, Dunedin.

Keywords: Regulation & Taxation;

My conclusion is a simple one. There is no simple answer to the question of the ownership, management, and regulation of water and wastewater supply and services: there is no one answer which suits every locality, circumstance, and system. It is easy for extremists to claim everything should be privatised, while other extremists as equally shrilly argue they should be kept in local government control. It soon becomes evident that the practicalities of the general circumstances rule out any extremist argument, while the choice between the middle options depends on the local circumstances. This presentation details the argument that leads to the conclusion.