Listener 31 May, 2003.
Keywords: Regulation & Taxation;
The enthusiasts who reformed the electricity system in the 1990s gave little indication of the possibility of the power shortages the nation now faces. Their premise was that the introduction of market forces would generating efficiency improvements without generating problems. Faced with repeated failures, they have been conspicuously silent, although their reforms were not quite concluded because they favoured privatisation. Almost 60 percent of electricity production is still generated by three government owned companies (Meridian, Genesis, and Might River Power).
The following is extracts from a research proposal: May 2003. It was awarded a Marsden award and will be the focus of my public interest research over the next three years.
Keywords: Globalisation & Trade;
SUMMARY
Describe in up to 200 words the nature of your proposed research in plain English for a general audience. This summary should be able to be used for publicity purposes if the proposal is offered funding.
Globalisation has shaped the world economy for the last two centuries. It also has shaped New Zealand, as for instance when refrigeration, together with steam ships and telegraph, led to a New Zealand economy based on pastoral farming selling to Britain. While there was a period of stagnation in the globalisation process in the middle of the twentieth century, innovations such as containerisation and mass air travel revitalised the globalisation pressures after the Second World War. More recently, the information and communication technology revolution has transformed access to information and simplified international contacts. Among the consequences of these changes have been an acceleration of globalisation with less restricted trade in more goods and services, foreign investment and capital flows, the potentiality for substantial human migration (as well as the huge tourist industry), a revolution in information access, and the growth of institutions such as the IMF and the WTO which attempt to regulate international economic activity. Local cultures and the nation state are being transformed. This project will trace these impacts on New Zealand in the past, and today, looking forward to the way globalisation will impact on the future, while contributing to international scholarship on the economics of globalisation.
Submitted as a feature to a national newspaper in May 2003, but it has not been used.
Keywords: Health; Regulation & Taxation;
Suppose you wanted to get drunk. How much would it cost? Perhaps six standard drinks would be more than enough – less if you were a woman. That is 90mls of absolute alcohol (ethanol). A bottle of the cheapest plonk provides 90mls of ethanol for about $6.50. You can get as drunk on beer for as little as $4.50. Some alcopops (Flavoured Alcoholic Beverages or Ready-to-Drinks) are as cheap. Spirits? Specials come at about $4.50 too.
Listener 17 May, 2003.
Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money; Social Policy;
One of the political oddities is how American conservatives are keen to blow the US budget surplus, creating an enormous deficit which will substantially adding to the US government’s debt. Under Ronald Reagan the justification was the merits of tax cuts, and the belief the deficit would force the US Congress to cut spending. It didn’t. Under George W. Bush the justification is the merit of tax cuts and need to support a sluggish economy, even though the cuts are poorly designed for macroeconomic stimulus. The commonality is the cutting of the burden of taxation on the rich, in effect switching the burden to future generations.
Presentation to a post-Budget breakfast organised by the Child Poverty Action Group and the Public Health Association, 16 May, 2003.
Keywords: social policy;
I am not going to say much about how disappointing the 2003 budget was to the Child Poverty Lobby insofar as it did little to relieve the financial pressures on family. One could go through each expenditure item and examine how much of it was directed towards children, including praising the small improvements to family assistance – I am sure someone from the government will. The spokesperson will also recall the government promise that ‘improvements in family income assistance … will be a major theme of the 2004 Budget’. The Lobby will remind us of the caveat that these improvements are promised providing ‘present fiscal indicators prove accurate’ – they wont of course – and ask why it has taken five years
Review of report prepared by the Treasury Accounting Policy Team, for The Treasury (November 2002) prepared for Archefacts.
Keywords: Governance; Literature and Culture;
In 1974, with the construction industry, straining under the demand to catchup on the backlog of housing, was running out of building sites, the government instructed its agencies to identify suitable land they had available, and release them onto the market. The policy failed because it transpired that most had no idea of what land they possessed (or, probably, any other of their government assets).
Listener 3 May, 2002.
Keywords: History of Ideas, Methodology & Philosophy;
The Left critique of society was born in the turmoil of nineteenth century European industrialisation, when communities were ripped apart and workers suffered terrible, and often short, lives. Economics was transformed too, with the analyses of Karl Marx and Alfred Marshall leaving behind the pleasant world of agriculture and commerce of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. The Left engaged with the mainstream economists of the day. One can get an introduction to the neo-classical economics of the late nineteenth century by reading the British socialists of the times, who were not nearly as taken with Marx as the world was after the Russian revolution. Their roots are not in Marxists but in the Christian dissenters, such as Methodists.
Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Labour Studies;
New OECD data bases enables the revision updating and extension of an earlier version of Productivity and Employment: New Zealand’s Post-War Economic Growth Performance. It still belongs to a series, Comparison with the OECD and Comparison with Australia.
An earlier version of this paper [1] used the Maddison data base which had some statistics of employment and hours worked, and allowed it to provide some estimates of productivity.[2] Recently the OECD published a more comprehensive. albeit shorter, data base.[3] This paper revises the earlier paper, incorporating the new data.
