Recently Peter Cresswell from Not PC asked me if I understood the difference between production and consumption. I know that consumption is what we value and I know that production is what we do in order to achieve consumption. As a result, I see production as a means to an end – the costly process […]
I have just been to a lovely presentation for the NZIER forecasts. However, an issue was raised which brings me to some slight irritation. During the Q&A session it was suggested that New Zealand “productivity is struggling” because we invested too much in housing and not in productive assets. Such a load of tripe. Here […]
The blogsphere has been a flutter about “the optimal taxation of tall people” (here, here, here, here, here, and here). The way I see it there are two debates going on here: Do we see it as fair to tax tall people/why not just tax income, Should we be using utilitarianism to figure this out. […]
Often people accuse economists of relying on an imperfect view of human nature – a view that is often disparagingly called “homo-economicus“. However, our view of the world does not rely on the individuals being able to perfectly calculate the satisfaction they get from things or perceive every opportunity. Ultimately all we require is that […]
So, we’ve had the Budget. The one time that we need a shift in government policy – and nothing happens. Treasury believes that the size of our economy is fundamentally smaller, that there has been a permanent shock to our income. As a result, spending needs to fall or taxes need to rise – 11 […]
I have noticed only two extreme positions in the media about a downgrade: It will be terrible – it will cost the govt alone $600m pa It doesn’t mean much – the credit ratings are “dis-credited” Let me tell you something – the truth is inbetween. Treasury’s estimate of the cost of a credit downgrade […]