Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Auckland's wilful no-build lines

Auckland Council protects eighty views across the city. Mainly, not views from homes. Instead, mostly sightlines from public spaces toward landmarks. Vistas like Rangitoto and the Waitākere Ranges.

From the 1970s, Council drew invisible lines through the air above the CBD. It declared that no building could rise above them. The planning term is a view shaft.

Those rules stifle development. Freezing the past comes at a cost.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Attracting overseas investment - A step forward, but not far enough

The government’s Overseas Investment (Amendment) Bill is more good than bad. It is more welcoming of incoming overseas investment.

That is good for several reasons. First, billions of dollars need to be invested in infrastructure. Second, New Zealanders need higher wage rates, but that requires higher labour productivity. Productivity could be higher if it were easier for firms to invest more capital per worker. Third, overseas investment can bring know-how, access to overseas markets and proprietary technologies

Dr Bryce Wilkinson: The foundation of freedom - Why legal principles matter

This week, the hotly-contested Regulatory Standards Bill was introduced to Parliament.

Vocal critics claim that the Bill improperly elevates selected legal and constitutional principles. The subjects of their ire include the principles of the rule of law, equality before the law, personal liberty and property rights.

Dr Bryce Wilkinson ONZM: Budget 2025 - The next step in a long, dogged, uphill fiscal trudge

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is condemned to spend eternity rolling a massive boulder uphill, time after time, for no lasting gain. Every time he gets it uphill, it escapes his grasp and rolls back to the bottom.

National Party Ministers of Finance, from Ruth Richardson on, could be forgiven for feeling like Sisyphus. Each spent most of their years in office struggling to turn fiscal deficits into surpluses, only to see the next government turn them into deficits.