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Ursula Elisara on foster care, trauma and love
November 2020 we released the latest Flint & Steel. Our an annual magazine contains a collection of feature essays, articles,…
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Facing our truancy epidemic
By Rowan Light
Move over COVID-19, New Zealand is facing a different kind of epidemic. New data released by the Ministry of Education…
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A permanent solution to our seasonal problem
By Julian Wood
In February this year, Maxim Institute called for a shift away from New Zealand’s over-reliance on temporary workers towards investing…
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Discussion Paper | The Case for Character Skills
By Kieran Madden
“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” – Martin Luther King Success early on in life is about…
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Book Club 4 | Small is Beautiful
In the course of the last generation, mantras of excess have driven our culture of consumption. Bigger is better, greed…
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This Government’s Poverty Problem
By Kieran Madden
Prime Minister Ardern is sitting on a shiny mountain of political capital that would, as one editorial pointed out, make…
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Avoiding America’s political polarisation
By Danielle van Dalen
“I remember when President W. Bush was elected and there were protests in the street calling him a war criminal…
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Flint & Steel | Vol 07
“ON RECOVERY, REPAIR, AND RECONCILIATION” ABOUT THIS YEAR’S ISSUE: Mess, brokenness, failure. these are ever-present realities that exist alongside the…
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Don’t underestimate humans in the future of work
By Kieran Madden
“Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake,” reflected tech luminary Elon Musk. “Humans are underrated.” For someone like Musk, whose…
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Book Club | Small is Beautiful
“I thus come to the cheerful conclusion that life, including economic life, is still worth living because it is sufficiently…
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Rowan Light & Ryan Donaldson on youth unemployment
2020 has presented all of us with significant challenges, but as Maxim’s latest research notes, spare a thought for our…
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Half-right no substitute for the whole truth
By Kieran Madden
“A problem well-defined is a problem half-solved,” the saying goes. Caricatures of complex problems on the other hand, lead us…
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The common purpose behind the political bloodsport
By Rowan Light
It’s as reliable as the pub chats following a Bledisloe Cup match. After any general election: the deluge of post-election…
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With the future in mind
By Danielle van Dalen
As I hope all New Zealand voters now know, we’re currently being asked to decide not only who will lead…
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The context of choice as compassion
By Danielle van Dalen
Conversation around the End of Life Choice Act has often focused on a desire to be compassionate at the end…
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Book Club 3 | Man’s Search For Meaning
This month on the Book Club, our Interim CEO Joanne Abernethy hosts researchers Dr Rowan Light and Danielle van Dalen,…
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Not the most restrictive law
By Danielle van Dalen
Advocates of the End of Life Choice Act have suggested that it’s the tightest legislation of its kind, and that…
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Julian Wood on the economy, employment and election promises
Last month we released senior researcher Julian Wood’s latest research paper on Active Labour Market Policies, looking at the ways…
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Creativity needed to support new jobs
By Julian Wood
In the economic battle against COVID-19, there was hope we might all “be home for Christmas;” a hope that wage…
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Discussion Paper | Catching the Tide
By Rowan Light
Young New Zealanders face compounding challenges in their transition to work in 2020. Young people globally are bearing the brunt…
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