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?

JD: On the Qiulae Wong Interview

Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

Having watched Qiulae Wong, the Opportunity Party leader, being interviewed by Jack Tame, it is clear that she, and presumably those who advise her, have no idea when it comes to the two key planks of their manifesto. What will be the effect of their increased tax and land tax impositions and the Universal Basic Income, with all of the costs thereto attached?

Robin Grieve: Fact Checking Jack Tame

Paul Henry was interviewed by Jack Tame on Q+A about his decision to stand as an ACT Party candidate.

Jack Tame began by reminding viewers that Henry had said he was standing because he wanted his grandchildren to enjoy the same opportunities to grow up in the paradise he experienced as a child. Tame then challenged him on the top income tax rate in the 1960s and the cost of university, arguing that the New Zealand Henry was nostalgic for was the product of a high-taxing government, an extensive welfare state, and a large state house building programme.

Andy Oakley: TVNZ's Racism and Lies Exposed Again - (A must watch)

Tame's treaty tricks and other bollocks

Just released: the latest episode of Andy Oakley Investigates.

Once again, our state-funded broadcaster TVNZ is in the spotlight — and not in a good way. In this short video, I break down the latest example of the racism they continue to platform and promote.

Bob Edlin: Budget surprise for the banks...

Budget surprise for the banks – but Willis says she will be surprised if the “tiny” levy costs are passed on to customers

One News reports:

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she would be “extremely surprised” if banks passed a new $200 million prudential levy announced in Budget 2026 onto their customers, though Cabinet has not yet decided what action it would take if they did.

David Seymour: Ministry for Regulation, NZ's position on the Middle East and the Treaty Principles bill.

David Seymour talks with Jack Tame on Q+A about a variety of issues including the Ministry for Regulation, NZ's position on the Middle East and the Treaty Principles bill.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Newshub hurt our democracy - not strengthened it

Newshub hurt our democracy - not strengthened it - contrary to TVNZ's journos telling us how to think (again).

Writing from his own Podium of Truth at OneNews, Jack Tame writes, "I share the view of many others that any net reduction in the total number of journalists is damaging for democracy. Regardless of the medium, it means fewer people questioning power". Who does Tame think he is? An "Opinion Leader"? A "Thought Leader"? Didn't he read the AUT Media Trust report published last week? It said, "Those who say they don’t trust and/or avoid the news are most concerned about .. what they perceive as political bias and opinion masquerading as news". What is TVNZ Tame's reaction to the demise of Newshub?

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Jack Tame Writes Non-Objective Nonsense......

.....about the demise of Newshub. Is it because he doesn't want to fall foul of his industry mates?

Jack Tame has written an article for State-owned broadcaster, OneNews, about the fall of Newshub. The article is not objective. It appears to be about Tame not wanting to fall foul of his industry chums. But doesn't he have an obligation in his position to report objective facts & not biased, self-preserving propaganda? For example, he says:

Chris Trotter: Iron In Her Soul.

TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND is to be congratulated for inviting Chloe Swarbrick onto its Q+A current affairs show. The Green MP for Auckland Central is the odds-on favourite to become the next co-leader of the Green Party, making her a vital player in the trio of left-wing parties (the other two being Labour and Te Pāti Māori) that together constitute our alternative government. Allowing the public to get to know Swarbrick a little better was a sensible editorial decision.

Jack Tame: It's A Done Deal

We can dispute when the counter should have started – election night or the official results – but I suspect the waiting game will soon be forgotten as the new government is sworn in and the house sits in urgency.

At first blush, I actually think the biggest winner of the three parties is National. Perhaps you’d expect nothing less from the highest-polling party, but there’s no doubt Christopher Luxon and his team were negotiating with a couple of wily, smart operators. And at the conclusion of negotiations, almost all of National’s policies remain on the table. They haven’t had to sacrifice their babies.

Jack Tame: The 2023 election was the "Anyone But Labour" vote

The results are in. Not the final, final results. The super-dooper recounted and not-subject-to-further-legal-challenge results. But as final as results are going to be for a bit longer. And on the numbers released by the Electoral Commission yesterday, I think we can reasonably dub the 2023 General Election the ABL-Vote.

ABL. Anyone. But. Labour.

Jack Tame: A new government is nigh – so what happens next?

It’s easier and faster for governments to scrap things than to build afresh, writes Q+A presenter Jack Tame.

When the special vote tallies are released this afternoon and the results of the general election are finalised, National’s leadership will want to waste little time in forming a new government.

Jack Tame: Has Labour lived up to its ambitious campaign promises?

Labour came to power in 2017 with an ambitious agenda, but has struggled to live up to the spirit of those promises.

And with that, finally, the parliamentary term has limped to its conclusion.

The House has risen for the final time and Labour can shift fully from the demands of government to full-time campaigning.

Jack Tame: Labour opposing school phone ban for sake of opposing

National’s promise to ban phones in schools was quickly characterised by critics as both unworkable and already in place.

This kind of muddled critique is suggestive of opposition for the sake of opposition, rather than opposition to an idea fought on its merits. But in a back-to-basics political campaign, a ban on phones in schools makes for both good politics and good policy.

Jack Tame: Ruling out NZ First now would martyr Winston Peters

There was an air of inevitability around the polls this week.

It pays to be restrained in putting too much weight into any one poll, but the trends are what matter and the trends are suggesting Winston Peters and New Zealand First might break 5% and make it back to parliament.

Jack Tame: We're still a long way from the CPI target

Well, the Consumer Price Index is 6 percent.

The numbers were out this morning and I think with 6 percent, we can say with confidence that, barring disaster, headline inflation in New Zealand has peaked.

From the post-pandemic high of 7.3 percent a year ago, we’ve now recorded 3 successive quarters of data heading in the right direction. I think we can call it a trend.

Today’s number isn’t surprising though, given the majority of mortgage holders have now moved off those all-time low interest rates.

Jack Tame: The missing piece of the law and order debate

Over the last five years New Zealand's prison population has substantially dropped at the same time as concerns over crime rates have more than doubled.

Labour can't point to data that suggests their lower prisoner numbers have led to lower crime rates. Whether there is any meaningful and significant causal effect between the lower prison population and higher reported crimes rates is unclear.

Six years ago, it was a different story. In 2017, Labour confidently framed a lower prison population as a good thing.

Robert MacCulloch: Why Jack Tame should do Economics 101 (and refrain from trying to advise the government)

In a prominent One News editorial, Jack Tame asks "Why don't politicians act on our most harmful drug?" He says, "A study by Otago University, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, used 17 different harm criteria to assess the impact of different drugs on New Zealanders. The study considered harm to the individual as well as society at large, and in the end the results weren't even close. Top of the pops, a full 17% ahead of second place, wasn't methamphetamine or opiates or tobacco, but good old-fashioned, buy-it-at-the-supermarket booze".

Jack Tame: This whole thing says so much about human nature

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been utterly compelled from the very start.

I first read about the missing Titan submersible a few hours after it was publicly reported missing, and I’ve been hanging on every update ever since.

That’s not to say I ever thought there might be a happy ending to the whole saga. This is perhaps a confronting thing to say, but in that vessel, at that depth, at that location, an instantaneous catastrophic implosion was a preferable alternative to one in which the occupants suffered over days or were conscious of what was happening.

I just think –more than any other news story in recent memory– the whole thing says so much to us about human nature.

Jack Tame: Is Labour planning new tax changes?

The impending release of a report into the taxation of wealthy New Zealanders will coincide with a speech next week from revenue minister David Parker, who's made no secret of his belief that New Zealand's tax structure lacks fairness.

If Labour were to introduce tax changes, the most obvious strategy is with a bait-and-switch.

John Key's 2010 "tax switch" increased GST to 15% while reducing personal taxes.