Kieran Madden
About Kieran Madden
With prior experience in project management and policy, Kieran has led our research team since 2015. Joining Maxim Institute after completing a Master’s in Public Policy from the Crawford School of Economics and Government at ANU, he is now working on a multi-year, multi-level research project on poverty in New Zealand.
Most Recent Activity
Looking beyond our bubbles
By Kieran Madden
We are in extraordinary times, calling rightly for extraordinary measures. Although our vision of the future is obscured by the…
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Total rugby and the future of work
By Kieran Madden
The futurists are hailing that the “the fourth industrial revolution” is upon us, a time where robots will take over…
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Policy for the people, with the people
By Kieran Madden
While reading about a promising new policy initiative by a bright-eyed non-profit organisation, I did a double-take when I read…
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“Random” answers for poverty prove Nobel-worthy
By Kieran Madden
Far too often, debates on topics that really matter are mired in oversimplification at best, and stagnate in sloganeering at…
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The failure of audacious goals
By Kieran Madden
“Goals are for losers.” I wouldn’t put it quite as provocatively as cartoonist Scott Adams did in his book How…
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Avoiding the election budget “black holes”
By Kieran Madden
In April this year, astrophysicists did the seemingly impossible and took a photo of a black hole. The black hole…
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The Art of Disagreeing Agreeably
By Kieran Madden
Illustrations by Anieszka Banks When engaging with someone you disagree with, own the fact that it could get awkward. New Zealanders…
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Don’t turn away
By Kieran Madden
“Our noses were almost touching…we were breathing the same air.” These are the words of Marcia Khoza, whose mother was…
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The “yeah, nah” government
By Kieran Madden
That gutting feeling of unfulfilled expectations is hard to shake, and the bigger the promise, the bigger the disappointment. The…
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Raising resilient children through healthy relationships
By Kieran Madden
When we hear of the overwhelming, and often heart-breaking challenges that some families face it can be easy to feel…
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This is our home
By Kieran Madden
Vibrant flowers gild the gates of the Christchurch mosques, each bouquet laid with trembling hands, representing a beautiful solidarity amidst…
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Now is the time to take our changing future seriously
By Kieran Madden
The Government is dead-set on improving “wellbeing” as the mark of their leadership, and “long-term intergenerational wellbeing” in particular. This…
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Vocational surgery required
By Kieran Madden
Our vocational educational system is on life support— haemorrhaging badly in desperate need of surgery. Four of New Zealand’s sixteen…
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Killing the cult of consumerism
By Kieran Madden
“Our Gross National Product…measures everything, except that which makes life worthwhile.” Bobby Kennedy’s famous 1968 speech decried how measures like…
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On Common Ground
By Kieran Madden
Illustrations by Anieszka Banks “I could have hit him, I could have hurt him…but something in me said, you know…
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The Politics of Diving
By Kieran Madden
Soccer goalkeepers sure look spectacular with their acrobatic dives during penalties, but studies show that simply standing in the middle…
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Shaking off stardust politics
By Kieran Madden
Famously elusive about her political leanings, pop sensation Taylor Swift recently went beyond her usual neutral get-out-and-vote message to endorse…
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Mana in Mahi isn’t your average work-for-the-dole scheme
By Kieran Madden
Translated to “strength in work,” Labour’s Mana in Māhī scheme shows real potential to make a difference in the lives…
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Generational perspective necessary to do policy well
By Kieran Madden
Our view of human nature makes a big difference on which policies we devise and support. “If men were angels,…
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Booming cities, struggling nations
By Kieran Madden
As a football tragic, I’ve been watching many of the World Cup games at ungodly hours these past few weeks….
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