Entries by Matt Nolan

Commitment and the gym

Everyone I know says they want to spend more time at the gym – myself included.  However, as an economist I’ve learnt to look past what people say and look at what they actually do.  In essence, people really just wish that a previous version of themselves (them in the past) had gone to the […]

“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 […]

Labour market is a lagging indicator …

… at least lets hope so right 😉 Unemployment rate rose to 6.8%, and the employment rate is at its lowest level since June 2003.  Further (relative to seasonal) weakness in part-time employment was the kicker here – which is why total hours worked (the size of the labour input in a sense) still rose. […]