Listener 29 June, 2002
Keywords Education
The chapter on the core education system in my book The Whimpering of the State evaluates the underlying economic model which influenced the education reforms of a decade or so ago. In essence schools were to be treated like businesses. …
Published in Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. Final version of the article.
Keywords: Governance; Health; Political Economy and History
Abstract: The New Zealand health sector reforms of the 1990s have to be seen in the context of the long term development of the New Zealand health system. The evolutionary change between 1938 and 1990 was abruptly replaced by the revolutionary policy of commercialisation from 1991 to 1993. …
Paper for the AGM of the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration, 27 June 2002.
Keywords: Governance; Health
Graham Scott’s Public Sector Management in New Zealand includes a half-hearted account of the views expressed in my The Whimpering of the State: Policy Under MMP in which he says ‘Easton makes the extraordinary claim that reformers ignored, or sought to undermine, the personal responsibility and professionalism of the core public sector.’ I am not sure I went that far, but I did report Alan Schick’s concern that there appeared to be an unaddressed tension between the reform’s managerialism with its emphasis on accountability, and professionalism which emphasises responsibility.
Presentation to Commerce Nelson’s ‘Innovation Forum 2002′, 26 June.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation
It is indicative of the mood of the country that I have been attending more regional economic seminars in the last year or so, than I did in all of the 1990s. It probably represents both the government encouraging regions to develop themselves, and a sign of growing confidence in the overall economic direction. …
Listener 15 June 2002.
Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money
In the 14 years when Don Brash was Governor of the Reserve Bank (RBNZ), consumer prices rose a total of 40 percent or about 2.5 percent a year. However the early part of his term was a period of disinflation. …
(Wellington, Bridget Williams Books, 2002), ISBN 1877 242918; $34.95
Review for AUS Electronic Newsletter
Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Political Economy & History
Students and the general public have found invaluable the sequence of books Jane Kelsey has produced on contemporary New Zealand society and governance, beginning with a study of how the Labour Government dealt with Treaty issues, working through the New Zealand experiment and now a couple on New Zealand in a globalised world, the latest of which is three essays in At the Crossroads (although, curiously, the cover shows a signpost at Bluff, the end of the country). Reviews of her books usually go to the extremes of the paean or condemnation. ….
Versions of this paper were presented to seminars of the Ministries of Economic Development and Foreign Affairs and Trade in May and June 2002.(1)
Keywords
The original invitation for this paper involved my setting out my work on globalisation, for which I had applied for a Marsden research grant. Alas, the applications which went into the second round do not include my one. Perhaps there are 137 more significant issues than globalisation facing New Zealand – which is scary. Even so globalisation is important to New Zealand’s future, to its very survival. This paper argues that not only is the issue important, but that research can progress our understanding of it. Such research should not be focussed on policy issues, but attempt to develop an intellectual framework, which policy makers will find useful. By eschewing policy conclusions it can go deeper, more analytic, and ultimately be of greater value.
The Budget Deficit and Future Generations
Listener 1 June 2002.
Keywords Macroeconomics and Money
MMP has meant the better parliamentary representation. Those whose parties dont make the threshold (75,306 in 1999), who vote informally (19,887), whose votes are disallowed (41,382), who are enrolled but dont vote (382,602), or who are eligible to enroll but dont (who knows?) miss out. But the remaining voters (1,990,188) selected a parliament that better reflects them ethnically and genderwise while a quarter (560,0057) voted for minority parties which better represented their politics than the two main ones. The people’s representation is further enhanced by MMP tipping the balance against the autocracy of single party government.