Christchurch has had an earthquake, and this has lead to the discussion of a couple of policy issues. Lets discuss. RBNZ will likely cut the OCR. However, I can see them waiting till their meeting – so they can fully explain what is going on. The reason this matters is: They will want to cut …
Category Archive: Government Policy
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/02/24/crisis-and-policy-a-couple-of-notes-on-nz-policy/
Feb 16 2011
A note: Migration and the GFC
There have been claims by the Labour party that rising departures from NZ are the fault of the National party, and that the increase during their tenure was due to the global financial crisis (GFC). Now this is a little bit untrue in terms of the way it is framed, I’ll just quickly point that …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/02/16/a-note-migration-and-the-gfc/
Feb 08 2011
“Savings” problem doesn’t mean “investment” problem per see
One issue I have with the constant discussion on savings, current account deficits, and consumption in NZ is how people look at it – they keep thinking that we are “consuming” to much and have needed to “borrow”. That is how we’ve been told to look at it – especially with all the talk of …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/02/08/savings-problem-doesnt-mean-investment-problem-per-see/
Feb 08 2011
Asset sales
There has been a lot of commentary on asset sales around the place, so much so that I didn’t feel like I need to write anything. Dim Post mentioned a lot of the people against asset sales and also Geoff Simmons recently wrote against them. Furthermore, both Anti-Dismal (*, *, *, *, *) and Roger …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/02/08/asset-sales/
Feb 01 2011
Savings working group report: Media release, first impression
I am busy with labour market data (and the EPL transfer window), so you won’t get a good read on the report from me until later tonight, or even tomorrow. However, I was happy with the media release in the most part. Especially the discussion of tax bias toward housing (and away from interest bearing …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/02/01/savings-working-group-report-media-release-first-impression/
Jan 25 2011
Beware the tax-free threshold
Judging by the fact that the “tax-free threshold” has reappeared as a policy prescription, I can tell it is election year. I am against tax-free thresholds. This has been discussed various times before, but the most detailed exposition of my feelings came out three years ago – during the previous election year. If I had …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/01/25/beware-the-tax-free-threshold/
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