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END OF 2010 REPORT

Keywords: Miscellaneous;
A quick run down as 2010 turns into 2011; another long year which passed quickly.
I used my NZIER award to spend a fortnight in China (a follow up on the globalisation project) which led to five Listener columns [1]. So I got a grant from the Asia NZ Foundation to spend a fortnight in [...]

GROWTH AND RECESSIONS OF ECONOMIC OUTPUT: 1861-1939

This is an appendix for �Not in Narrow Seas: New Zealand History from an Economic Perspective�, a book I am writing. It is published here so that people can access the technical material. The data is available on request.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History; Statistics;

Over the last sixty years we [...]

WAITING FOR ROGER

We should be so Lucky.
Listener: 25 December, 2010.
Keywords: Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History;
A country road. A tree. Evening.
JOHN: Charming spot. Inspiring prospects. Let�s go.
BILL: We can�t.
JOHN: Why not?
BILL: We�re waiting for economic growth.
JOHN: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You�re sure it was these policies?
BILL: Which?
JOHN: That we were to implement.
BILL: Those we have been doing?
JOHN: [...]

DEBT AND EQUITY IN NZ’S INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT POSITION.

I wrote this note to clarify some matters to myself; I shant be surprise if they become more prominent in 2011.
Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Statistics;
I have been looking at the International Investment Position focusing on the equity to debt ratio, in effect thinking about New Zealand�s external balance sheet as if it were a [...]

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

Review of Crisis: One Central Bank Governor and the Global Financial Collapse Alan Bollard with Sarah Gaitanos (Auckland University Press, $29.99) in New Zealand Books: Summer 2010; p. 10.
Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;
I examined carefully the Reserve Bank bill before parliament in 1988, to ensure that come a financial crisis the Reserve Bank would be able [...]

WINE AND CHEESE

This was a think-piece which underpins the Listener column of December 11, 2010..
Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Political Economy & History;
This note is a chain of reasoning, rather than an essay or chapter with a conclusion. Although it may shed light on some contemporary issues discussed in the final paragraphs, the paper arose out of my [...]

FINEST CHEDDAR, MADE BETTER

Cheese as a metaphor for the New Zealand economy.
Listener: 11 December, 2010.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Political Economy & History;
Our first cheese was probably made shortly after Samuel Marsden brought cows to New Zealand. For most of the 19th century, cheese was made on farms for local supply. Before export refrigeration, which began in 1882, a [...]

TIME FOR A NEW STRATEGY

The Zombienomics policies of the past few decades have not been working.
Listener: 27 November, 2010.
Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;
Economic theories are going through a major revision in the wake of the global financial crisis. I doubt that the foundations, built over the past 200 years, will markedly change but their superstructure (the bit being publicly discussed) [...]

GROWING PAINS

If we want to promote economic growth, we need a big rethink.
Listener: 13 November, 2010.
Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;
The global financial crisis is not over; it just keeps morphing into new phases, without leaving the old ones entirely behind – and so the risk of financial institutions falling over remains. The world struggles with crises over [...]

Brian Easton