Guest Author • Jun 17, 2021 •
Ella Henry, Auckland University of Technology While I am always happy to celebrate any accolades my country and city might garner on the international stage, seeing Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau awarded the top ranking in a recent “most liveable cities” survey left me somewhat flummoxed. In particular, I would argue that many Māori whānau in Auckland do not enjoy … Read More
Guest Author • Aug 31, 2020 •
Michael Plank, University of Canterbury; Alex James, University of Canterbury; Nicholas Steyn, and Shaun Hendy As Auckland relaxes restrictions today, contact-tracing data show the rapid decision to place New Zealand’s largest city under alert level 3 lockdown has undoubtedly prevented an explosive outbreak of COVID-19. Our model of COVID-19 spread in New Zealand shows the extension by an extra … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 12, 2020 •
Aotearoa surpassed 100 days without a case of community transmission of Covid-19. Last night that virus-free streak ended and we’re moving back up the alert levels. For months now, we’ve been intercepting cases of Covid-19 at the border. But just as has happened in many other countries, somehow the sneaky bastard has got in. At a late press conference last … Read More
Robert Hickson • Aug 01, 2018 •
Auckland Council’s long term spatial plan to 2050 is out. There seems to be lots of good data released with it that is worth exploring. But the thing getting the most attention at the moment is one of five scenarios in the brief Possible futures part that was released along with the plan. The “Two speed … Read More
Michael Reddell • Jun 28, 2018 •
Someone around home mentioned this morning that there was a confused article on the Herald website about the progressivity (or otherwise) of the fuel tax increase. I didn’t pay much attention until I read the paper over lunch, when I was a bit staggered by what I found. This was the centrepiece chart The line of argument from opponents has … Read More
Brendan Moyle • Jun 12, 2018 •
One thing I like about returning to NZ from places like China, is being around nature again. We live in one of the few parts of the world, and certainly the developed world, where wildlife is sometimes not just at our doorsteps, but also inside as well. Urban Forests Some of this is down to our urban forests. Our urban … Read More
Jean Balchin • Apr 26, 2018 •
I’m in the exceedingly fortunate position of not worrying about my postgraduate education costs; I have a scholarship that pays my fees and accomodation over the next few years. I won’t have to worry about feeding myself, scraping together my dollars to cover power bills, or shivering in my bedroom because I can’t afford an electric blanket. But … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 12, 2018 •
Ayesha Verrall New Zealand is in the grip of its worst mumps outbreak in decades. The outbreak started in Auckland early last year and was initially focused on five schools in the West of the city. Since then there have been over 1000 cases with some spreading to other centres around the country. Mumps causes a fever, headache, muscle … Read More
Michael Reddell • Jan 25, 2018 •
Most local councils don’t employ economists – or at least not ones we hear of. The Auckland Council does have an economics unit, and the previous incumbent did some interesting and stimulating work. But yesterday on interest.co.nz there appeared an article by two of the Auckland Council’s economists which argued, so the headline proclaimed, that “evidence from across NZ … Read More
Michael Corballis • Jul 25, 2017 •
I am stuck in traffic somewhere in the grey western suburbs of Auckland, listening on radio to a discussion of being stuck in traffic in Auckland. It’s much better in Dunedin, they say. There you can get to any destination within minutes. The radio chatters on. I learn a bit about disposable shopping bags, and the problem of … Read More