Dr Eric Crampton: An economics without trade-offs

One reasonable definition of economics is the study of choice under conditions of scarcity, or choice under constraint.

When getting more of one good thing requires forgoing some other good thing, what do people do? How do they decide?

Ganesh Ahirao (was Ganesh Nana; last name changed - I think because a historic error in NZ systems was finally more recently corrected) proposes an Economic Governance Act to replace core parts of the Public Finance Act.

Jack Tame asked how part of that would work. If the Minister of Finance were deciding how to spend the last billion dollars of available funding and were choosing between a hospital infrastructure project and a wetland restoration project, how would the Act guide that choice?

Robert MacCulloch: Ardern's Government misused public money.....

......by instructing the Productivity Commission to pursue its own Social Agenda irrelevant to Productivity

The Head of the Productivity Commission, Ganesh Nana writes, "As the year ends, I reflect on the work of the Commission and am proud of what we have achieved. The completion of the A Fair Chance for All inquiry was significant. We .. made insightful recommendations recognizing the strengths of communities already addressing & successfully alleviating persistent disadvantage" and then he finishes with this, "I am proud of the way the team have responded to the news of our disestablishment – with dignity & professionalism".