James Hogan's Personal Blog
Its political silly season in New Zealand again. Election year is pregnant with gifts and baubles for punters, hanging delicously off political party hooks waiting for voters to bite. This time around its taxes – cuts, and non-cuts. But other craziness on the table includes socialising the food side of…
Every Economist marvels at Singapore’s economic and political economy. They’ve just entered into a Free Trade Agreement with Kazakhstan and their Senior Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, delivered a lecture to the Nazarabayev University of Kazakhstan outline Singapore’s economic development history and economic strategy.It’s worth reading.You can see echoes of their…
This posting is motivated a little bit by this RNZ article but also interpreting these Statistics New Zealand Business Price statistics.The RNZ article noted a Reddit comment that: “I’ve changed job now, but in my old job I was making around $850 a week working full time. When I see…
Here’s some fun and games I recently helped a first-time caller / long-time-listener out with. This person had brought some pots from Facebook supposedly sold by two brothers running a restaurant in Wellington who are ceasing operations for retirement. Rather than sell their equipment to the liquidators, they were selling…
Experts from Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency (PDA) are visiting New Zealand. They’re talking with researchers, military and civil defence people on decision-making during a grey-zone or “hybrid” war.A casual read of the PDA’s website illustrates its focus is on slapping Swedes out of an uncritical mindset that everything they read…
Here’s some corrospondence which came through my email this morning from the New Zealand First political party, my response, and their reply.It wasn’t Parliament’s session on the 30 July 2026, but rather on the 29 July 2026. And, if you read everything that lead up to Winston’s comment, he was…
Hey there reader 🙂 I’ve just submitted my first academic paper in a long time, on the world market for tuna and the law of one price. Here’s some of its content which didn’t all make the final paper, but also some of the literature review which was interesting but…
This is a chitty-chat I wrote a while back for a fisheries magazine, but it never made the cut. Could be a bit esoteric. But not for you, my readers! It connects to Sustainable Development Seen Through an Economics LensIf you think of humanity’s economic development and its progress from…
Politically, I’m a Libertarian, leaning heavily towards free-markets and hands off government policy. Given a choice, I prefer conservative politics to liberal politics. I’m not a National party supporter, but I’d prefer those guys in power rather than the other.But sometimes our prime minister is tone deaf. This article is…
Americans Become Easy Targets In Nationwide Surveillance Dragnet The Wall Street Journal BY SHANE SHIFFLETT AND HANNAH CRITCHFIELD Liz McLellan spent a morning in January witnessing the work of federal agents who had arrived in Maine to pursue the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Like other community activists, protesters and passersby…
Really really really get the pressreader.com app From The Wall Street Journal, 27 February 2026 Anthropic Turns Down U.S. on AI Guardrails The Wall Street Journal BY AMRITH RAMKUMAR Anthropic said it wouldn’t back down in a dispute with the Defense Department over artificial-intelligence guardrails, complicating efforts to reach a…
Interesting day! Quietly loving how the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) operates 🙂The BSA is a New Zealand government body created under the Broadcasting Act 1989. Their function is to “receive and determine complaints from persons who are dissatisfied with the outcome of complaints made to broadcasters”, and to encourage the…
Here’s three pictures of delicous full cream milk from New Zealand, with one massive, massive difference between them.Can you spot it?The first picture is from Woolworths Lower Hutt store, taken on the 17 December 2025. The second picture is from Pac n Save Lower Hutt, taken on the 19 December…
I was listening to the new Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor on RNZ today. She’s awesome! I’m liking the cut of her jibb. Her economics are orthodox, her communication is on point and not distracted from the minimalist message she wants to say, and she’s quite happy to jump out…
Kiwisaver was a policy initiative introduced with a big hiss and a roar by Michael Cullen back in the Helen Clark government in May 2005.Convinced that he had single handedly created a government fiscal surplus through his superior fiscal rectitude, he seemed to think no one was as good at…
When we think about environmental resources what do we mean by “sustainable” development? Economic growth is the change over time in the volume of goods and services which are available for investment or consumption. With increased production comes higher incomes, wealth, and improved living standards. Economic development, the reward from…
Stats NZ updated their annual national accounts for the year ending March 2024 today. These updates bring their GDP stats into line with the Annual Enterprise Survey and other benchmark data sources. The annual measures shake out as much of the data vagaries that plague the quarterly measures, and reset…
I’m wondering about the systemic effects of large mortgages. I might be wrong, but here goes. The scenario So we are looking at moving houses. But moving up in house quality means moving up in price. Twenty years ago, moving up in quality meant going from a $100,000 house to $200,000…
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) this week dropped the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 3.0% from 3.25%. In theory, that should flow through the banking system, and drop the “price of money” (the loan interest rate) which banks demand for mortgages.Cheaper interest rates “should” increase demand for mortgages,…
New Zealand is currently in the worst economic recession since the Mother of All Budgets back in 1990. Our Golden Years (1998 – 2008) are well behind us. The business cycleHere’s a little thing I fizzed up when I was at the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research but have…