Eric Crampton presents the case for why the New Zealand Government should quickly reopen the country's borders to international students.

Everyone agrees the Government plays a critical role in helping New Zealand through the economic consequences of the Covid-19 global pandemic. But the best tools are not always clear. In this essay, the authors argue that the New Zealand Government should support struggling workers with targeted assistance, rather than a Universal Basic Income (UBI).

This report argues that catchment-level cap-and-trade systems for water abstraction, incorporating both urban and rural water uses, are the best approach for New Zealand to manage water supplies in catchments where water is becoming scarce.

NCEA completion rates have been increasing, with more children than ever earning an NCEA diploma. However, New Zealand’s performance on international benchmarks in numeracy and literacy has been flat or declining.

The Christchurch earthquakes provided a few more important lessons for policy. The government must plan ahead to make post-disaster recovery simpler and it must avoid creating the prolonged policy and regulatory uncertainty that hindered Christchurch’s recovery.