Business & Economics

Can NZ step up and address Earth system decline?

Can NZ step up and address Earth system decline?

The Government of Aotearoa New Zealand has a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership and action by changing its laws to conform with the laws of nature, writes Klaus Bosselmann. Can NZ step up and help lead?

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What would a Green Recovery from COVID-19 look like for Aotearoa New Zealand?

What would a Green Recovery from COVID-19 look like for Aotearoa New Zealand?

To arrest economic downturn, many governments have responded with massive fiscal packages to boost the economy, maintain employment, and stabilise core industries. However, there is deep concern that these economic responses will undermine the goals outlined in the Paris Climate Accords and cause a surge in greenhouse gas emissions.

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Why do social ties matter to climate politics?

Why do social ties matter to climate politics?

Policy-makers frequently fail to communicate scientific knowledge about climate change effectively, with the result that targeted groups often reject potentially useful advice. Our research addressed New Zealand dairy farmers’ perceptions of climate conditions and their perceptions of climate science.

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What role do banks play in the housing crisis?

What role do banks play in the housing crisis?

If banks’ lending behaviour is found to have contributed to New Zealand’s housing quagmire, then banks must be held to account and share the pain when the bubble inevitably bursts, writes the University of Auckland’s Michael Rehm.

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What’s causing inflation? 🔊

What’s causing inflation? 🔊

Since the COVID pandemic, the United States and other countries have faced challenges in terms of economic recovery. This has resulted in issues such as supply chain disruptions and what has been reported as high rates of inflation.

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How do rich politicians avoid paying tax?

How do rich politicians avoid paying tax?

IRS records reveal how Gov. Jim Justice, Gov. Jared Polis, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other wealthy political figures slashed their taxes using strategies unavailable to most of their constituents.

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What has happened to supply-chains?

What has happened to supply-chains?

As Covid-19 cases decline, capacity constraints and shortages should ease, spending on travel and entertainment should pick up, slowing demand for goods and taking some of the pressure off supply chains and delivery times.

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Is TikTok breaching your privacy?

Is TikTok breaching your privacy?

TikTok is hugely popular. But its latest decision to capture unique digital copies of your face and voice is a cybersecurity threat to your identity and privacy.

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What is the dark side of tourism?

What is the dark side of tourism?

We all know Covid-19 has had a major impact on tourism. Professor Andreas Neef says it’s a good time to have a rethink about the type of tourism the world needs.

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Are banks days numbered?

Are banks days numbered?

The growth of crypto is confounding critics and forcing central banks like New Zealand’s Reserve Bank to investigate their own digital currencies.

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Why does the EU want to tax non-green imports?

Why does the EU want to tax non-green imports?

The Commission is expected to unveil its proposal in a few weeks’ time, but some exporting countries of carbon-intensive products have already expressed their disappointment at a new form of European protectionism.

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What are the economics of happiness?

What are the economics of happiness?

New Zealand has its own world expert on the economics of happiness. Professor Robert MacCulloch says the pandemic is an opportunity to show how we could do a lot better.

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Fast fashion: What are the hidden costs?

Fast fashion: What are the hidden costs?

“The textile and clothing manufacturing industry comes with a heavy price including environmental pollution and the well-publicised issues around the income and working conditions for workers.”

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What is behind the recent oil price crash?

What is behind the recent oil price crash?

Having agreed to restrict production in recent years, it appears that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation have been racing to outdo the other in crashing the price of oil.

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What technologies can help clean up rivers? 🔊

What technologies can help clean up rivers? 🔊

New Zealand has a dirty rivers problem. In 2017, two-thirds of the country’s rivers were deemed too polluted to swim in. Given this, research is being carried out to find ways in which the country can attempt to clean up its rivers.

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Fossil fuel-free superannuation: What is the deal? 🔊

Fossil fuel-free superannuation: What is the deal? 🔊

Last week an announcement was made by the government surrounding changes to default KiwiSaver funds. In a bid to align with the zero-carbon bill, in 2021, when the terms of default KiwiSaver end, they will no longer be able to invest in fossil fuels or illegal weaponry.

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What is the future of food?

What is the future of food?

Gilbert Wong looks at the forces shaping the future of food and how research is contributing to what’s likely to be on our plates in 2030.

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Q+A: Boom or bust: What is the state of housing in New Zealand?

Q+A: Boom or bust: What is the state of housing in New Zealand?

New Zealand is enduring a housing crisis. The chance of buying a home is out of reach for many, while at the same time, rents remain high. Gautami Sithambaram spoke with Campbell Jones about the state of housing in New Zealand and what initiatives young people can take to get into the property market.

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Could a recession be just around the corner?

Could a recession be just around the corner?

The U.S. economy is growing at the fastest pace in five years, and unemployment is at the lowest level in almost half a century. So why are Wall Street and some economists suddenly worried about a recession?

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New Zealand dairying in question?

New Zealand dairying in question?

In an extract from the new book “The New Biological Economy: How New Zealanders are Creating Value from the Land,” Richard Le Heron brings into question the future of dairying in New Zealand.

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What are the solutions to food insecurity? 🔊

What are the solutions to food insecurity? 🔊

Climate change, pesticide contamination, soil-depletion, loss of land, power politics, mass pollinator die-offs, and a host of big business practices threaten the long-term availability of healthy food. In part two of this symposium on the future of food, Maria Armoudian speaks with a panel of experts about the possible solutions to the food crisis the world faces. 

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Can crowdfunding help the environment?

Can crowdfunding help the environment?

As the effects of human activity on the environment become more widely felt, people are turning to crowdfunding campaigns to help conserve the Earth’s environment. But are they effective?

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Is the IMF failing?

Is the IMF failing?

Adam Triggs investigates why the world’s economic crisis-fighting mechanisms are dangerously inadequate and whether the IMF is failing.

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Q+A: Does the “Charitable Industrial Complex” help or hinder humanity?

Q+A: Does the “Charitable Industrial Complex” help or hinder humanity?

Between 2001 and 2011, the number of non-profit charities increased by 25 percent. $316 billion was given away in 2012 in the United States alone. Yet inequality has grown, and nations are struggling to deal with a refugee and migration crisis. This is part of what Peter Buffett calls the “charitable-industrial complex.”

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Q+A: Do free markets camouflage their real cost to our society?

Q+A: Do free markets camouflage their real cost to our society?

Do free markets camouflage their real cost to our society? Blinded by prices and the so-called free market, Raj Patel says market theory has not only failed but has also acted as a camouflage for activities that are not about markets at all and that prices have little correspondence with their value or even their cost.

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Q+A: Does the sharing economy damage society?

Q+A: Does the sharing economy damage society?

What are the battles and the changes arriving from the so-called disrupters such as Uber, Lift, and Airbnb? Maria Armoudian talks to Sarah Kaine who has been studying the so-called sharing economy and its effects. 

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What does the future hold for universities? 🔊

What does the future hold for universities? 🔊

What does the future hold for universities, and why does this matter for the rest of society? Cris Shore is co-editor of a new book entitled Death of the Public University? Uncertain Futures for Higher Education in the Knowledge Economy. In this episode of What IF? He discusses his hopes and fears for universities and their role in society over the coming decades.

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Will new technologies revolutionise the economy? 🔊

Will new technologies revolutionise the economy? 🔊

James Roberts believes that digital networks open up possibilities for radically transforming our financial and economic systems. We asked him to discuss some of his ideas about intelligent economic planning in a post-capitalist future.

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What is greenwashing culture? 🔊

What is greenwashing culture? 🔊

What is Greenwashing Culture? In his new book, Toby Miller argues that culture has become an enabler of environmental criminals to win over local, national, and international communities.

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What impact is the private military industry having on war? 🔊

What impact is the private military industry having on war? 🔊

Over the past decades, privatised military contracts have grown to unprecedented levels, a change that has challenged the standing ethical doctrine known as ‘Just War’ theory. How is the privatisation of military activities compromising international conduct in conflict?

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Is NZ at the head of the EU and UK queue again? ▶

Is NZ at the head of the EU and UK queue again? ▶

In this lecture, Steve Hoadley presents material from his recent book, “New Zealand Trade Negotiations”, touching on past trade access breakthroughs, current geopolitical-economic uncertainties, and future hopes with regard to free trade agreements between the EU and the UK post-Brexit. 

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Is big money influencing science? 🔊

Is big money influencing science? 🔊

Raising big money is a relatively new phenomenon in academia. How did science, government, and industry become so entwined with one another, and what has it meant for scholarly research?

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Should corporations have a public purpose? 🔊

Should corporations have a public purpose? 🔊

Should corporations put public purpose before profit? Once upon a time, corporations were required to have a public purpose, and once they fulfilled it, they were dissolved. How did we get to where we are today, and what does it mean for democracy?

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