Capital inflows are the reverse side of the current account deficits that we like to discuss on this blog (most recently here). For some reason a capital account surplus is often seen as a good thing by journalists while a current account deficit is seen as a bad thing (ht Bluematter). This does not make […]
It appears that many people fear a contraction in the economy – and are determined to bring to justice any factors that could lead to such a situation. As of late, one such factor was the “credit crisis”, which has lead to a sudden freeze in lending and potentially to a contraction in economic growth […]
I don’t like thinks that sound like conspiracy theories – and the title of this post does! However, I am starting to get the impression that this is one situation where it may actually be the case. Overall it stinks like socialism for the rich (good cartoon here, good article here) Two articles from Bloomberg […]
Over at No Right Turn I/S states that we can’t simply view “free trade” as beneficial, we have to be mindful of the costs. Now this is true, as with any policy we have to look at the costs associated with change as well as the benefits before we decide what to do. However, I […]
Over at Kiwiblog, David Farrar comments on outward migration from New Zealand. He concludes by stating: Inwards migration of new New Zealanders (which is a great thing) helps keep the overall population stable, but that does not mean there isn’t a serious problem with the numbers leaving. A similar theme was mentioned a few weeks […]
I was interested to see the Standard and No Right Turn link to a PSA advert from the latest Listener. The advert seems like a whole lot of mis-information piled right into a single page. The criticism of the ad is quite simple – they come up with a sum and then they take away […]