The labour market is like any other market: pay and conditions are largely determined by supply and demand, rather than through a power struggle between employees and employers. Geoff Hogbin exposes the fallacies behind the arguments for labour regulation, and makes the case for a freely functioning labour market as the best protection for employers and employees alike. Read more
Provisionally entitled Te Oranga o te Iwi Maori: A Study of Maori Economic and Social Progress, the book will look at factors and institutions that have influenced Maori development and ways of building on past achievements. The first Working Paper, Maori Economic Development: Glimpses from Statistical Sources, was undertaken by Wellington-based Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. Read more
Dancing with the stars? Is the second paper in a series that forms part of the New Zealand research project on ‘Creating a global New Zealand economy’. Read more
I sometimes describe my cultural and economic point of view as being that of a cultural optimist; that is, I expect the future in a commercial economy to bring us more choices and more diverse choices. If we put aside the concerns of the current day and look back at world history, it has been the globalising eras that have brought us cultural diversity. Read more
No country is an island is the first paper in a series that forms part of the New Zealand Institute’s research project on ‘Creating a global New Zealand economy’. Read more
Against the human experience of long-term stagnation and misery, the record of growing prosperity over the past two centuries and, in particular, the last 50 years, is astounding. Economic growth owes much to the mobilisation of resources and structural flexibility, but this depends on the 'software of economic development' - institutions, which change slowly. Read more
'The rule of law' is at once one of the most persistent and mysterious phrases in jurisprudence. I am not aware of anyone who is opposed to the rule of law. Read more
I have been assigned a fiendishly large topic. How do you deal with so vast a subject? Read more
The concept of fairness is both elusive on the one hand and well-nigh indispensable on the other. On particular occasions, I devoutly wish that the word would be eliminated from the English lexicon, which is a bit like hoping to hold back the tides with a wave of the hand. Read more
Most families with dependent children will qualify for additional family, childcare or housing assistance under the government's Working For Families (WFF) policy which was announced in the 2004 budget. WFF is being introduced in stages between October 2004 and April 2007, and will cost an estimated $1.1 billion a year or 0.7 percent of forecast GDP when fully implemented. Read more
There is a natural cycle in intellectual development. New ideas begin as isolated and idiosyncratic attacks from without. Read more
The question I have been asked to address is ‘How big should government be?’. My temptation is to start with the position that they who govern best govern least. Read more
The study of constitutional law often begins with a dispute between two different versions of the relationship of the individual to the state. There are those who think that atomistic individuals come together by a set of voluntary contracts, and those who think that societies should be treated as though they are complex organisms that cannot be understood simply as the sum of their parts. Read more
Limited school choice programmes that give parents a little more choice within a system of largely unchanged, uniform schooling alternatives, should not be used to judge the effectiveness of school choice as a reform catalyst. John Merrifield looks at examples of both real and limited school choice policies from around the world and finds out why some succeed while others fail. Read more
One of the most famous statements about the relationship between a company and a state is contained in a remark by Charles E Wilson ('Engine Charlie' of General Motors) when he was being questioned for his appointment as Secretary of Defence in 1953, the early days of the Eisenhower administration. He said that, "for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa". Read more