Checking our climate blind spots

By Julian Wood

When it comes to emissions it is easy for us to obsess about factories and farmers as if these activities…

Preparing for economic downturn

By Julian Wood

There’s been a lot of recent chat about a possible economic downturn, and many seem to be living under the…

The pitfalls and priorities of Public Private Partnerships

By Julian Wood

New Zealand has a long and contentious history of private public partnerships (or PPPs). The biggest argument in favour of…

We can’t afford to sleep on climate risks any longer

By Julian Wood

The story of Rip Van Winkle, first published 200 years ago, resonates deeply with me. I too feel like I…

Budget reveals wellbeing will cost more than Rules allow

By Julian Wood

The figures announced in last week’s Wellbeing Budget stretches the Government’s self-imposed Budget Responsibility Rules (keeping the level of net…

Making New Zealand “sexy”

By Julian Wood

In contrast with our apparently “sexy” accent, New Zealand is struggling when it comes to being attractive as a long-term…

Think Big 2.0: The Provincial Growth Fund risks turning into a fiasco

By Alex Penk

This article was written by Alex Penk and Julian Wood, and first published on The Spinoff on 26 February, on…

Making the Provincial Growth Fund a risk worth taking

By Julian Wood

The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) represents a once in a generation opportunity to support a sustainable future for New Zealand’s…

Regional Development Policy Paper – A Risk Worth Taking

By Julian Wood

One year into the $3B Provincial Growth Fund, Maxim Institute’s new research A Risk Worth Taking – Ensuring the Provincial…

The status of our own history

By Danielle van Dalen

While many of us are raised with storybook histories of pharaohs, kings, queens, and notable events from all over the…

Make the change, don’t keep the change

By Jeremy Vargo

Quick question. If a checkout operator gives you too much money back in change, do you tell them and give…

The collision of research and real life

By Alex Penk

I’ve never been to Maraenui, but I’ve now had a pretty eye-opening introduction to the Napier suburb. The devastation caused…

Losing All Blacks nothing to fear

By Julian Wood

In a surprise move, a group of the top 1 percent of male New Zealand income earners are appealing for…

Sabotaging the lifts in New Zealand’s tower of wealth

By Julian Wood

If you haven’t seen the 2018 Side Eye Inequality Tower by Toby Morris and Max Rashbrooke, it’s well worth a…

Irresponsible lenders on borrowed time

By Julian Wood

While borrowing money at an annualised interest rate of up to 693% wouldn’t appear at the top of anyone’s wish…

Housing Panel – Live Q+A

THREE PERSPECTIVES ON HOW WE MOVE FORWARD A decent, affordable place to live is a basic need for every person,…

Time to take a risk for the regions – Newsroom column

By Alex Penk

To lay out an explanation for the recommendations in our Taking the Right Risks policy paper on regional development, Alex Penk…

Alex Penk talks with Mike Hosking – Regional development policy paper

Upon the release of our regional development paper, Taking the Right Risks, Alex Penk was interviewed by Mike Hosking on…

Regional Development Policy Paper: Taking the Right Risks

By Julian Wood

Our previous work on regional development laid out the evidence that large parts of New Zealand are facing a 30 year wave…

Planning to take the right risks for our regions

By Julian Wood

New Zealand’s Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has a problem. He has three billion dollars and three years to change…