Book first published in 1993, so current up to then Land and Natural Resources Law
History of New Caledonia
Comparative Grocery Pricing
So, here I am in New Caledonia. And as any right-thinking economist does, when they do their shopping, I’ve sourced comparative prices from New Zealand so I can check for systematic price differentials. 🙂Here’s the shopping bill from the local supermarket, Carrefour market, expressed in South Pacific Francs (XPF):I’ve typed…
When was Inflation Beat?
Yeah! Good News! New Zealand’s nailed inflation.Don’t get me wrong – I dislike inflation, and everything about it. I don’t like how sustained persistent inflation is created by the government spending money it doesn’t have and buying up large on both the taxpayer and consumers ticket (inflation is a tax)….
Information Technology: Is it Capital or Labour Intensive?
What got me into this blog topic was a recent posting by Real Engineering on Nebula looking at how video streaming services work. In the posting, the presenter gave some arm-wavy stats on the relative breakdown of their costs.Oh, by the way: Rebecca Drew is AWESOME (she told me if…
The Price of Booze and Smokes
Stats NZ released its Consumer Price Index today. Booze & Ciggie InflationHere’s what’s been happening to the relative cost of your weekly booze and smokes.Booze and smoke annual prices increased approximately 1.6% faster than other goods and services between 1988 and 2009. All other goods and services increased in price,…
Brisbane Construction Boom
Rebecca and I landed in Brisbane last night, and we’re staying at the Emporium Hotel in South Bank. We have this phenomenal view of the Brisbane CBD. Check out this photo. It wasn’t clearly defined, so I added red marks over each.There are 13 cranes helping construction in Brisbane’s CBD….
Milk Scarcity
Oddest sign…… why does NEW ZEALAND have milk supply issues?!?!But it looks like it’s backed up by evidence:I’ll be damned… That’s not good for both June GDP, and New Zealand, especially given inflation and a contracting monetary policy stance.🫤
Inflation is ALWAYS Caused by Too Much Money Creation
Pinning New Zealand’s latest inflation figures on overseas factors misses a distinction between a temporary “price shock”, and an increase in “permanent” inflation. New Zealand is experiencing permanent inflation, and it was caused by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.New Zealand’s inflation rate, back in March, was an annual rate…
Better data storytelling
There is no such thing as truthThere are only stories. And everyone has their own version. For example, when talking about why the sun rises, over the ages there have been many many different stories people believed to be true.The Greeks and the Aztecs thought the sun to be a…