Dr Bryce Wilkinson nzinitiative.org.nz For those who care about New Zealanders’ wellbeing, the central issue is if the benefits of any given level of lockdown plausibly exceed the costs. About four months ago, I calculated it might be worth sacrificing 6.1% of one year of New Zealand’
Jeremy Harris Jeremy Harris is a businessman and investor from Auckland, New Zealand. Last Tuesday morning I had a very difficult conversation with my staff. With tears in my eyes, I told them that due to the likely renewed lockdown there was a good likelihood I would eventually have to
Long after Jacinda Ardern and her on-again, off-again lockdowns are consigned to the dustbin of electoral history, New Zealanders will be paying off the debt of her policies. But, that is, as we say in Australia, on the never-never. Which means that something has been bought on credit, with little-to-no
Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union In the nearly seven years I’ve been running the Taxpayers’ Union, it’s fair to say the last few weeks have been the strangest. We totally rewrote our election campaign strategy following COVID the first time. We scrapped the election “Bribe-O-Meter”
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Way back in April (1st, no less!) I suggested that perhaps it might be condign for the older generations to pony up for the devastating economic and social costs of pandemic responses that are designed mostly for their benefit. The suggestion did not seem to go over well with many
In contrast to the fawning adulation of the legacy media, venerable think-tank the American Institute for Economic Research has cast a jaundiced eye over the reign of Jacinda Ardern. Suffice to say, they’re not much impressed. For months we’ve heard the cry: oh how wonderfully New Zealand dealt
Jeremy Harris Jeremy Harris is a businessman and investor from Auckland, New Zealand. Dear Prime Minister, I supported the initial national lockdown and move to quarantined borders. Over the last 5 months the situation has changed markedly in four respects: * Firstly, the Infection Fatality Ratio can now be calculated to
This was going to be a boring little article about the government’s new rules about provisional tax penalties. I was going to recommend you read it after 11.00 tonight, particularly if you are having trouble sleeping. But I am going to have to leave that for another day
Taking time off from writing my letters from the North I managed to do some work for my day job. During my busy week, I had some interesting face time with managers of second-level funding institutions. These are participating in and advising on the Government protection devices attempting to keep
Jeremy Harris Jeremy Harris is a businessman and investor from Auckland, New Zealand. As we emerge bleary-eyed from hiding behind our couches and under our beds, into the level-1 sun (or rain), with the fear subsiding we are now able to appraise objectively where we find ourselves as a nation.
Julian Wood maxim.org.nz Nations around the world are expecting low or negative growth and higher unemployment rates as a result of fighting COVID-19. The supply side shock means that parts of the economy are in hibernation or struggling with a lack of demand, while other parts of the
Julian Wood maxim.org.nz When the Government closed New Zealand’s borders in response to COVID-19, flaws in our labour market were exposed. Not only was tourism and accommodation brought to a grinding halt, a massive temporary workforce was removed from the New Zealand labour market, leaving many businesses
I am no statistician. Ask anyone who knows me. Statistics was the only paper I struggled with when studying accountancy. But when I heard yesterday that the unemployment figures for the June 2020 quarter had actually fallen to 4%, I decided that the old adage is true. There are most
