Author Archive
Compulsory redundancy payments
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 12, 2008
I see there is some talk of compulsory redundancy payments after this sad story. Now even though it would be nice if those people hadn’t been left high and dry after all their years of commitment, it is important that we try to get an objective idea about the costs associated with the scheme.
Iceland’s bankrupt: Is this where NZ is going?
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 12, 2008
So we all know that Iceland is bankrupt – what is the situation like for New Zealand? A few of the stories I saw when Iceland first went into massive trouble were here, here, and here. At the time the comparison was so popular that there was a Dom Post article on the risks of [...]
Make expansionary fiscal policy work – give it to the technocrats
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 11, 2008
I have no doubt that my views here will be contentious – but they need to be put forward nonetheless. I think that Treasury (or some mix of part of Treasury and IRD) should function at arms length in the same way as the Reserve Bank, and that they should set tax rates in the [...]
Cartoon: The fight against prices!
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 11, 2008
For the NZ Herald cartoonist Guy Body: h.t. Nigel Pinkerton.
Did the Bank start cutting too late?
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 11, 2008
In what appears to be becoming a “stand up for the Bank” day, I was surprised to see Steve Pierson at the Standard state that he believes the Reserve Bank cut interest rates too late! Now, if the Reserve Bank had known exactly what was going to happen in the world and decided to hike [...]
Defending the Bank’s attack on “prices”
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 11, 2008
Yesterday I said that I thought the Bank’s speech on bringing down the price level was ridiculous. Not only is asking for a decline in prices a strange thing for a central bank to do, the mentioning of “oil companies” was slightly off the mark – given that they have slashed prices in the face [...]
Everyone needs to play their part?
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 10, 2008
In an interesting speech by the RBNZ governor Alan Bollard we are told that everyone needs to play their part during the economic crisis. Specifically he stated: We would hope that the electricity industry does not take advantage of its market position and keep increasing rates, that local authorities realise they need to set rates [...]
500th post, sort of
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 10, 2008
- In: Other
- 11 Comments
After seeing Adam Smith at the Inquiring Mind reach 2,250 posts here, I decided to check my own post number. I noticed that I hit 500 posts with this one. As a result, I expect some beers from Rauparaha, Agnitio, and Goonix on Saturday This post is the 678th post on this blog overall. Note [...]
Probation periods: How I see it at the moment
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 10, 2008
In net terms I am AGAINST the probation policy being put through today. That puts me in a pretty significant minority among my economics peers, oww well it gives us something to talk about. However, I would also add that I am NOT THAT against it – I am only against it in net terms [...]
Question: How is probation period policy different to current policy?
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 10, 2008
Please, explain to me how the current probation policy is different from the one National is going to introduce! I know about economics, but these subjective terms like “natural justice” do not have a clear meaning to me . I was all ready to rail against the scheme this morning because I thought they were [...]
Why would export volumes not fall during a global recession?
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 10, 2008
A recent survey stated that New Zealand exports were “resiliant” in the face of a massive global recession. Now this is something that, at first, might seem unusual. New Zealand relies on exports so much, and if the global economy is collapsing surely we will have no-one left to sell too. However, it is important [...]
Correcting a slight swipe on forecasters
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 9, 2008
Over at Financial Armageddon they state that: Analysts naturally factor in the number of people who are out of work when they try to figure out future consumption patterns. But there is more to it, of course. People who are afraid they might lose their job are just as likely to economize or clamp down [...]
More talking from the PM – why?
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 9, 2008
I see that the PM has been talking about financial economic variables again – this time it is the exchange rate. Now he says it isn’t a big deal as he didn’t say too much – which is true. But nonetheless, he is PM, he isn’t supposed to say anything about the direction of monetary [...]
Taking another quick look at petrol prices
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 9, 2008
So since the last post I’ve thought of a few other things I could do to get an idea of pricing behaviour. First, lets compare the price of petrol per litre (excluding tax) to the $NZ price per barrel of oil:
Mis-reading confidence
Posted by: Matt Nolan on: December 8, 2008
What the hell is with the headlines saying “Confidence surges post-election” and “New Zealand Consumer Confidence up 5.9 pts to 105.6, after John Key’s election as New Zealand’s new Prime Minister“. I’ll tell you why consumer confidence rose in November – retail petrol prices fell 15%. I wouldn’t have minded the random conjecture that a [...]
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