Even today’s sharpest critics of economics should give economists credit for two substantial wins for liberalism over the last couple of centuries. In 1849, Thomas Carlyle called economics “the Dismal Science”. Read more
Spare a thought for New Zealand’s Finance Minister, Nicola Willis as she prepares to deliver her first Budget later this month. The economic circumstances she has inherited from her predecessor, Grant Robertson, are the worst any Kiwi finance minister has faced since the tumultuous days of Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson in the 1980s and early 1990s. Read more
They say that denial is the first stage of grief and that overcoming it matters if you want anything to get better. There has been an awful lot of denial of the serious fiscal problem that the government must start addressing in May’s budget. Read more
New Zealand has an infrastructure deficit of at least $100 billion, a significant drag on productivity and economic growth. Not all this deficit can be financed from within New Zealand, meaning we will need overseas investment. Read more
