Roger Partridge: The High Cost of Luxury Beliefs

Some ideas cost nothing to believe but a great deal to implement. Political commentator Rob Henderson calls them “luxury beliefs” – convictions that signal virtue among the comfortable while imposing very real costs on those with much less room to manoeuvre.

New Zealand, for reasons cultural as much as political, has become fertile ground for them. We are a small, highly educated country that prizes good intentions. Yet too often, the people who congratulate themselves for their ideals are not the ones who bear their consequences.

Dr Eric Crampton: What lies beneath: the unseen of film subsidies

Two weeks ago, I suggested a treaty ending international film subsidies. Government funding for local cultural content can be defensible. But when countries use subsidies to compete to attract Hollywood productions, Hollywood is the main winner.

It’s hard for any country to end these subsidies on its own. If New Zealand stopped subsidising its film industry but Australia did not, productions would shift across the Tasman. New Zealand’s film sector would shrink. Some people employed in the sector would follow jobs overseas rather than find work in other areas.

Ani O'Brien: Propping up the film sector or stimulating growth?

On Friday night, having imbibed a few wines I strayed onto X to unwisely engage in some (slightly drunk) opinion sharing. I tweeted:

Dr Eric Crampton: Trump’s ‘foreign’ film tariffs means disarming film subsidy arms race

New Zealand generally likes arms control treaties.

I have a modest proposal for a disarmament treaty. Negotiations could start immediately. If we all disarmed, we would all be better off.

And now is exactly the time to do it.