Monthly Archives: May 2006

What Might New Zealand’s Economic Transformation Mean?

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

Speech to the Auckland University of Technology Residential Course on Regional Development, Tatum Park, Levin, May 30. The author is an adjunct professor of the Institute for Public Policy at AUT.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation;

Tonight I am going to talk about what New Zealand’s Economic Transformation might look like, and some of the things which need to happen in order to accomplish it. However, I need to begin with two caveats.

Is the New Zealand Health System Spending Enough on Pharmaceuticals?

This entry was posted in Health on by .

New Zealand Future Medicines Policy Summit, 29-30 May, 2006, Wellington

Keywords: Health;

My task is to set out briefly the issues that this panel of economists has been asked to address: whether the New Zealand health system is spending enough on pharmaceuticals. I’ll divide the answer into two. Is New Zealand spending enough on health care? Is New Zealand spending enough on pharmaceuticals in the health budget?

Fiscal Conservatism Rules

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

Should we have tax cuts without cutting government spending?

Listener: 20 May 2006.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

This columnist made himself highly unpopular in the 1980s by arguing for fiscal conservatism; ie, restraining the size of the government deficit between its revenue (mainly taxation) and government spending. Even the Treasury abandoned fiscal conservatism, arguing in 1984 that “with a floating exchange rate there is less risk that poor monetary and fiscal policies will impoverish those industries exposed to world trade while generating spiralling external debt”.

The Future Of the Nation-state in a Globalised World

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

Presentation to a Leadership New Zealand seminar, 18 May 2006.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Governance;

I am working on a book, The Globalisation of Nations, sponsored by the Marsden Fund. As the title suggests I am concerned with both the process of globalisation and how that affects the nation-state. Today I begin by giving a brief overview of the economics of globalisation, but my main focus will be about its impact on the nation-state.

Improving the Electoral System

This entry was posted in Governance, Political Economy & History on by .

This is a submission to the select committee considering the Electoral (Reduction in Number of Members of Parliament) Amendment Bill

Keywords: Political Economy & History;

1. I wish to make a submission on the Electoral (Reduction in Number of Members of Parliament) Amendment Bill. I do so because my book The Whimpering of the State: Policy After MMP, raised some matters which are pertinent to the deliberations of the committee.

Can We Improve the New Zealand Health System?

This entry was posted in Governance, Health on by .

Keywords: Governance; Health;

Discussions on the effectiveness of the health system need to separate out the funding from the provision. The Labour Government has poured a lot of money into the public health system in recent years (the boost actually began earlier under the National-NZF coalition government in 1996), and it has been disappointed by the results. It has concluded that there is something wrong on the providing side.

The Youth Labour Market Guarantee: the Environment

This entry was posted in Education, Growth & Innovation, Labour Studies on by .

This was prepared in May 2006 for a report on a Youth Labour Market Guarantee.   Keywords: Education; Growth & Innovation; Labour Studies;   Introduction.   This paper provides an environment in which any Youth Labour Market Guarantee package must function. It covers the Government Vision statement, the latest Department of Labour 2005 statement The…
Continue reading this entry »