Category Archive

Short term opportunism has a price

Gareth MorganFebruary 28, 2013Economics, Tax and Welfare

It’s not obvious at first glance that allowing employers to breach minimum wage regulations is bad news for youth employment. Clearly if the price of youth labour is going down, more will be hired, so what is the problem? In … Read More

How to get rid of smart and honest employers

Gareth MorganFebruary 22, 2013Economics, Tax and Welfare

The Living Wage campaign is quite rightly drawing attention to the issue of pay and working conditions in New Zealand. With record numbers of Kiwis heading for Australia, it’s certainly time for that debate. Regardless of where you sit on … Read More

Better late than never – Reserve Bank edges ever closer to acknowledging mistake on mortgage policy

Gareth MorganJanuary 27, 2013Economics, Property

The consideration given by the Reserve Bank to controlling the bias in its policies that favour housing over all other lending types is most welcome (See NZ Herald article here). It is 20 years late but until they deal to … Read More

Rigging of Housing Market Is Deliberate Policy

Gareth MorganJanuary 14, 2013Economics

January’s North & South magazine is headed “Is the Housing Market Rigged”? The article goes into depth on the resurgent property market and whether the take-off in prices is like constructing castles of sand. It compares New Zealand with the … Read More

Farmers in a Quandary – Perspective from the Pub

Gareth MorganDecember 12, 2012Economics, Environment

Spending a couple of hours in a pub in South Canterbury talking to the locals last week there were two topics of interest. Will Jamie Joseph be able to overcome the ‘big noter’ syndrome from the recent Wellington imports to … Read More

Housing boom figures should convince government to put its hands back on the steering wheel

stewart-islandNovember 11, 2012Economics, Tax and Welfare

Guest post by Bernard Hickey There’s a tipping point for any pragmatic policy-maker where the facts change to such an extent as to render any existing strategy redundant. Depression-era economist John Maynard Keynes explained his change of mind on monetary … Read More

Unemployment on the march: Whose Fault?

Gareth MorganNovember 8, 2012Economics, Tax and Welfare

Personally I wouldn’t blame the exchange rate, the government, or any lack of entrepreneurship. The world is really struggling if you hadn’t noticed and the ability of our firms that export or compete with imports, to maintain sales, is being … Read More

Housing: The Great Kiwi Tax Dodge

Gareth MorganNovember 7, 2012Economics, Tax and Welfare

My 5 point plan for housing has prompted a fair bit of debate and I’d like to respond to the points people have made. Let’s start by clearing up one thing about housing as an investment. I am not anti-housing … Read More

Gareth’s Five Point Affordable Housing Plan for New Zealand

Gareth MorganNovember 4, 2012Economics, Tax and Welfare

You don’t need a fancy Commission, costing over $4 million a year, to tell you what to do about house prices and worsening housing affordability, especially Auckland housing affordability. It’s blindingly obvious. There are four significant forces behind the housing … Read More

Welcome to the New Reserve Bank Governor

Gareth MorganOctober 29, 2012Economics

It’s refreshing to hear a new perspective from the Reserve Bank on the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis and the challenges it presents to the New Zealand economy. New Governor Graeme Wheeler is correct to say that Quantitative Easing … Read More

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