Blog Archives

Articulating an alternative, Julienne Molineaux

Posted on May 26, 2019 by NZ Books

Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-scale Collective Action
Max Rashbrooke
Bridget Williams Books, $50.00,
ISBN 9781988545080

This is an optimistic book that aims to re-set the narrative on collective action and, in particular, how we discuss the role of government in our economic and social life. Author Max Rashbrooke’s previous books were on inequality (an edited collection) and on wealth in New Zealand (a BWB short text). Government for the Public Good: The Surprising Science of Large-Scale Collective Action continues Rashbrooke’s concern with how New Zealand can be a more egalitarian, fairer country. As with his previous books, Rashbrooke mixes his critique of the status quo with suggestions for policy improvements, but the main goal here is to present solutions. His confidence that there is an alternative infuses the book; his critique of what is essentially neoliberalism (a term he rarely uses) is countered in every case study chapter with examples of alternative, successful approaches to problem-solving, many sourced from overseas.

Tagged with: Bridget Williams Books, Issue 126, Julienne Molineaux, Max Rashbrooke, Winter 2019
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

The Māori economy, old and new, Gyles Beckford

Posted on December 3, 2018 by NZ Books

Heke Tangata: Māori in Markets and Cities
Brian Easton for Te Whanau o Waipareira
Oratia Books, $30.00,
ISBN 9780947506438

In late 1984, a small group of Māori politicians, public servants and their helpers, invented an iwi to welcome hundreds of Māori from around the country to parliament for the Hui Taumata – the Māori Economic Summit. As delegates of different iwi arrived in the old Legislative Chamber, they were welcomed by the “Ngati Beehive”, an eclectic mix of organisers and staff of different tribal and ethnic backgrounds. The Hui Taumata was a less publicised, lower profile version of the newly elected Labour Government’s Economic Summit, at which Sue Bradford made such an impact. But its significance was that it drew together in a forum the collective voice of Māori, highlighted not just the difficulties, the deprivation and the obstacles, but looked at Māori resources, the positives, the solutions, and the future possibilities.

Tagged with: Brian Easton, Gyles Beckford, Issue 124, Oratia Books, Summer 2018
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Review

Dangerous confusion, Tim Hazledine

Posted on December 5, 2015 by NZ Books

The Fire Economy: New Zealand’s Reckoning
Jane Kelsey
Bridget Williams Books, $50.00,
ISBN 9781927247839

“Imagine,” said the great physicist Richard Feynman, “how much harder physics would be if electrons had emotions!” Harder still, if not just emotions but consciousness, memory and reasoning power. Perhaps they do – I don’t know. I do know that people have these attributes and more, and I have come to appreciate just how difficult that fact makes life for those of us who study the human or social sciences, such as economics.

Tagged with: Bridget Williams Books, Issue 112, Jane Kelsey, Summer 2015, Tim Hazledine
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Review

The undemocratic free market, Bryan Gould

Posted on June 9, 2015 by NZ Books

Beyond the Free Market: Rebuilding a Just Society in New Zealand
David Cooke, Claire Hill, Pat Baskett and Ruth Irwin (eds)
Dunmore Press, $30.00,
ISBN 9711927212189

In the opening essay of this impressive collection, Nicky Hager identifies 1993 as the crucial date when opinion turned against Rogernomics and Ruth Richardson; and yet, he asks, “more than 20 years after that profound change in public opinion, New Zealand still retains many of the policies of the 1980s and early 1990s. Why?”

Tagged with: Bryan Gould, Claire Hill, David Cooke, Dunmore Press, Issue 110, Pat Baskett, Ruth Irwin, Winter 2015
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Review

Lifting the lid, Colin Peacock

Posted on March 11, 2015 by NZ Books

Dirty Politics: How Attack Politics is Poisoning New Zealand’s Political Environment
Nicky Hager
Craig Potton Publishing, $35.00,
ISBN 9781927213360

The Catch: How Fishing Companies Reinvented Slavery and Plunder the Oceans
Michael Field
Awa Press, $40.00,
ISBN 9781927249024

“Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made.” That zinger, attributed to Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck, is still a go-to piece of wisdom today for those pointing out that plenty of nastiness goes on behind the scenes, which most people either ignore, or remain blissfully ignorant of. Some journalists today say the same applies to the unsavoury side of getting a good story. For instance, when Mediawatch asked an Australian reporter about the families of Pike River victims being pressed for exclusive and personal interviews, she fell back on that same saw. Some reporters even call their own workplaces “sausage factories”, pumping out cheap, filling content for public consumption day after day, rather than prime cuts.

Tagged with: Autumn 2015, Awa Press, Colin Peacock, Craig Potton Publishing, Issue 109, Michael Field, Nicky Hager
Posted in Economics, Media, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Town and country, Brian Easton

Posted on March 11, 2015 by NZ Books

Growing Apart: Regional Prosperity in New Zealand
Shamubeel Eaqub
Bridget Williams Books, $15.00,
ISBN 9781927277614

When the Farm Gates Opened: The Impact of Rogernomics on Rural New Zealand
Neal Wallace
Otago University Press, $30.00,
ISBN 9781877578724

In the last hundred years, the median population centre of New Zealand has moved from near Nelson (which is at the geographic centre of New Zealand) to near Hamilton. The drift north has been remorseless, as has been the drift to the cities. A hundred years ago, one in two New Zealanders lived rurally; today it is one in six, fewer than those who live in Auckland.

Tagged with: Autumn 2015, Brian Easton, Bridget Williams Books, Issue 109, Neal Wallace, Otago University Press, Shamubeel Eaqub
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Review

Demolishing the doctrinaire delusion, Marilyn Waring

Posted on June 25, 2000 by NZ Books

Reclaiming The Future: New Zealand and the Global Economy Jane Kelsey Bridget Williams Books, $39.95, ISBN 1 877 242 012 Reclaiming the Future is Jane Kelsey’s fourth book in a decade of prolific publication: A Question of Honour in 1990,…

Tagged with: Bridget Williams Books, Issue 43, Jane Kelsey, Marilyn Waring
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction

An eye on the ball, Graham Mourie

Posted on March 26, 2000 by NZ Books

Rights of Passage: Beyond the New Zealand Identity Crisis Chris Laidlaw Hodder Moa Beckett, $29.95, ISBN 1 86958 723 5 Chris Laidlaw was a quality All Black in the late 1960s, who achieved prominence by firing a Parthian shot at…

Tagged with: Chris Laidlaw, Graham Mourie, Hodder Moa Beckett, Issue 42
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Review

From visionaries to pygmies, Colin James

Posted on December 27, 1999 by NZ Books

Politics and economics Coming into the 20th century, the battle for the future was between socialists and triumphalist trumpeters of a “bigger and better Britain” here at the end of the world. The route out is likely to be along…

Tagged with: Colin James, Issue 41
Posted in Comment, Economics, Essays

The gutting of New Zealand, Paul Dalziel

Posted on October 27, 1999 by NZ Books

Only Their Purpose is Mad Bruce Jesson Dunmore Press, $27.95, ISBN 0 86469 343 5 Written during the horror of the early 1940s, Karl Polanyi’s famous book The Great Transformation sought to explain why nearly 100 years of relative liberalism…

Tagged with: Bruce Jesson, Dunmore Press, Issue 40, Paul Dalziel
Posted in Economics, Non-fiction, Review