Brian Easton

The Economic Prognosis is Not Good for the Latest Russian Revolution
Listener: 27 January, 1996

Keywords: Political Economy & History;

Recently economist Rufus Dawe described himself, in the National Business Review, as the Trotsky of the rogernomics revolution. Who he had in mind as the Lenin and the Stalin of rogernomics is unclear. Trotsky said of Stalin that his rise to power was evidence of the mediocrity of the system.

Comparing the US and New Zealand tax systems is comparing rotten apples with quality kiwifruit.
Listener: 14 August, 2004.

Keywords: Regulation & Taxation;

Far too much of the New Zealand economic debate is overwhelmed by the colonial cringe, an obsequious respect to overseas economics, with a failure to recognise that New Zealand circumstances are frequently different. Each May, a Business Roundtable press release, dutifully reported in the business pages, announces “Tax Freedom Day”, the day up to which – so it says – everyone is paying taxes to the government and after which all one earns is tax-free. The idea comes from the US right-wing think tank, the Tax Foundation, and is strongly contested in the US as misleading, because it ignores the fact that one also gets benefits from paying those taxes.

When the international price of cotton and sugar is raised, why should we be pleased?

Listener: 31 July 2004.

Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;

As unlikely as it may seem, cotton and sugar are playing a vital role in New Zealand’s economic prospects. A World Trade Organisation panel has just found in favour of a Brazilian – and others – complaint that the US is subsidising or “dumping” its exports of cotton. The panel concluded that the US action depresses international cotton prices, so other cotton exporters are getting lower than free – or fair – market prices. It rules that the dumping must stop.

A Report prepared in February 2003.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Statistics;

Contents
Introduction
What is GDP?
Comparing GDP Through Time
Comparing GDP Between Countries: Purchasing Power Parity
How Satisfactory is the Adjustment?
Comparisons Through Time
Scaling PPP adjusted GDP
Ranking by GDP
Does GDP Measure Economic Welfare?
Alternative Measures to GDP

Notes

Listener: 17 July 2004.

Keywords: Political Economy & History;

Only two ministers opposed the Labour Cabinet’s proposal for a flat income tax in December 1987. A month later, one, Prime Minister David Lange unilaterally canned the proposal because it would make the poor worse off. The other was Michael Cullen, then Minister of Social Welfare, now Minister of Finance.

Listener: 10 July 2004.

Keywords: Political Economy & History;