In 2010, the National-led government launched a rather substantial experiment. Auckland City’s smaller councils were forced to amalgamate into a supercity structure. Read more

It isn’t crazy to claim that New Zealand’s school system lacks ambition. Or, if it is, our shop has been crazy for a while. Read more

Budget 2022 allocated just over $2.5 million a year, over four years, to the Customs Service to help it stop cigarette smuggling. I wonder whether it will be enough. Read more

A long queue of people form a circle. Each has a coin purse slung over a shoulder. Read more

If there were no better way of solving the problem, one could forgive how central government has approached water infrastructure reform. Some councils have done a very poor job in maintaining their pipes. Read more

On Sunday, the government announced an extension of the petrol excise and Road User Charge holiday, as well as half-price public transport, until the end of the year. The Beehive’s press release said that the move would reduce headline inflation by 0.5 percentage points. Read more

As an exemplar of the purest form of Kiwi anti-growth, anti-development orientation, it is hard to beat. If New Zealand doesn’t beat this particular habit, it is very hard to be optimistic about anything other than emigration. Read more

The economists descended on Wellington last week. Or, at least, many shuffled their way from the Ministries over to Victoria University to meet with academics from across the country for the annual three-day conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists. Read more

Suppose your middle-schooler came home with a math assignment. She was told to measure everyone in the house and report on heights. Read more

On Friday, 17 June, the American Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children over the age of 6 months. The Centres for Disease Control recommended the vaccines the next day. Read more