BBC Russian

DO WE DESERVE TO HOST THE RWC?

Listener: 3 September, 2011.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation;
Does New Zealand deserve the Rugby World Cup? No, I am not concerned about who wins it; I hope the best team wins, and you know who that is. But do we deserve to be hosts?
Compare our feeble efforts with other big tournaments whose hosts deliberately use it to [...]

FIVE GREAT STAGNATIONS

Paper to Treasury Seminar: 26 July, 2011.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History;

Introduction
I am writing a history of New Zealand from an economic perspective. Thankyou for the opportunity to present some of its material; it may have a contemporary relevance. I want particularly to thank John Whitehead, who issued [...]

INDIAN LISTENER COLUMNS

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Political Economy & History;
The Asia New Zealand Foundation kindly made a grant to enable me to visit India. Here are the columns I wrote:
A CLASH OF TITANS (22 January, 2011) http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=1416
GOD�S OTHER COUNTRY (19 February, 2011) http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=1435
INDIA�S UNMET DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENT NEEDS (16 April, 2011) http://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/?p=1478
POOR [...]

AMARTYA SEN AND INDIA�S FUTURE

India is a country of the past, but it is also a country of the future.
Listener: 25 June, 2011.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation; History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy; Political Economy & History;
Many New Zealanders find India mysterious, for we don�t have much to do with it � unfortunately it is just out of direct flight [...]

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 [...]

CHRISTCHURCH AS A GLOBAL CITY

For the 131st AGM of the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association, 13 September, 2001 in Christchurch. (Revised)
Keywords: Business & Finance; Globalisation and Trade; Growth & Innovation;
This presentation takes place barely a week after the Great Canterbury Earthquake. It is a tribute to the fortitude of those who are here and their ancestors who put [...]

CATCH AUSTRALIA? Only if We�re ready to pay.

Business Herald, 26 March 2010.
Keywords:� Growth & Innovation;
While accelerating the rate of GDP � even catching up with Australia – may be an official aspiration it is not simply a matter of trebling productivity as one businessman airily explained to me; he changed the topic when I asked how his firm is going about it. [...]

EVIDENCE OR BLIND FAITH?

If you wanted to close the gap with Australia, wouldn’t you look at why the gap exists?
Listener: 6 March, 2010.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation;
A meta-analysis brings together all the existing research studies, pooling their conclusions to get an overall one that is more precise and revealing than the individual studies. John Hattie, professor of education at [...]

BOOM TIME RATS

Our glut of overseas borrowing is like a disease eating away at the economy.
Listener: 24 October, 2009.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation;� Macroeconomics & Money;
Of alarge highly productive foreign-exchange-earning sector emerged, it would squeeze the existing tradeable sector: exporters, and industries that compete with imports. Not only would it earn foreign exchange more efficiently but it would [...]

Brian Easton