Is it finally time to reduce the number of district health boards? NZIER Insight 69
May 11, 2017
New Zealand has 20 district health boards (DHBs) for a population of less than 5 million. Because of a lack of transparency, we do not know the costs of administering DHBs. But prima facie evidence suggests it is time to consolidate DHBs and free up administrative resources to use for … Read more
Why Mexico won't pay for Trump's wall - NZIER Insight 68
February 3, 2017
President Trump's plan to "make Mexico pay" for his border wall by potentially imposing a 20% tariff on all US imports from Mexico ignores basic economics. US households - and particularly low- to middle-class households - will end up bearing the brunt of these tariffs, and both the U … Read more
Social investment - new right agenda or new wine in old bottles? NZIER Insight 67
December 16, 2016
Social investment is the new Prime Minister’s signature policy The Prime Minister, in his first press conference, signalled his commitment to continuing to drive the government’s ‘social investment approach’ and followed this up with the appointment of Amy Adams as the first ever Mini … Read more
Tsunami risk: do we learn our way forward, or repeat the mistakes of the past? NZIER Insight 66
November 18, 2016
New Zealand has just had a ‘near miss’ with tsunami risk – for the second time in the last three months. Read more
Trumponomics : risks to the New Zealand economy - NZIER Insight 65
November 3, 2016
It looks more likely that Donald Trump could be elected as President of the United States (POTUS). Predictions now give Trump a 20-30% chance of victory, though these numbers are changing daily and who knows what scandals might surface between now and polling day on 8 November. We are … Read more
A learning system for evidence informed social policy - NZIER Insight 64
October 27, 2016
Effective social policy and service delivery requires a learning system. Imagine if…New Zealand had an effective learning system to generate and capture evidence to inform spending decisions for social policy. A good learning system will include evidence about ‘doing the right things’ … Read more
Tsunami risk : more needs to be done - NZIER Inisght 63
September 19, 2016
The recent earthquake and associated small tsunami provide a timely wakeup call. New Zealand needs to take the opportunity to learn from this ‘near miss’, and to invest in some ‘quick wins’ that can reduce our huge exposure to tsunami risk at low cost. Read more
Improving local government needs better policy advice - NZIER Insight 62
September 16, 2016
Local government regulatory activities have an important effect on local and regional economic growth and, ultimately, national economic growth and community wellbeing. This places a premium on local government organisations having high quality policy advice and decision-making proces … Read more
The high cost of (not) stopping people getting high - NZIER Insight 61
August 24, 2016
In this Insight, we bring the techniques of policy analysis to the issue of whether prohibition is the best way to reduce harm from using marijuana. Read more
Do you think you're better off alone? Impacts of Brexit on New Zealand - NZIER Insight 60
June 14, 2016
Recent polls suggest the chances of Brexit is a 50-50 call. This means we have to start contemplating what Brexit might mean for New Zealand. Read more