Eric Crampton • Jan 27, 2015 •
Yes, the Motu report on the costs of Auckland's urban planning regulations does not include a measure of the benefits. In some cases this will not matter much; in others, it might.Andrew Geddis focuses on building height limits which impose about $18-3... Read More
Eric Crampton • Jan 27, 2015 •
Me in The Initiative's weekly newsletter:If councils are determined to commit absurdities, they’re going to do it regardless of fixes to the RMA. After whatever legislative tweaks are enacted, and new Environment Court rulings come through, it will take councils a little while to figure out how to restart the micromanagement that pushes up costs and helps make New … Read More
Eric Crampton • Oct 10, 2014 •
Fun week.I posted over at Interest.co.nz about how reducing regulatory barriers to densification and to expansion in the suburbs could reduce housing costs and consequently improve child poverty outcomes, at least some of which are due to high housing costs.Gareth Morgan posts over at Gareth's World about how I'm kinda evil for being so pro-sprawl and wanting sprawl … Read More
Eric Crampton • Oct 02, 2014 •
I suggest, in this week's NZ Initiative column at interest.co.nz, that addressing housing affordability could be part of John Key's recently announced policy focus on child poverty. When housing costs take up over forty or fifty percent of many poor households' incomes, what's left for other needs?A teaser:When land supply, both expansion at the city fringes and land zoned for … Read More
Eric Crampton • Apr 10, 2013 •
Cheryl Bernstein points out the ironies in the Environment Court's decision on the Cass landscape. She writes: In making his decision not to allow irrigation at Cass, the Environment Commissioner, Robert Nixon, noted that the proposal would not serve... Read More
Waiology • Apr 08, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins When it comes to managing our freshwaters well, science can provide only part of the solution. It is important to appreciate how much water we have, what quality it is, and how our activities change these things – questions that only science can answer – but it is also important to appreciate what people want from … Read More
Waiology • Mar 28, 2013 •
By Nicola de Wit The enactment of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) combined around 70 pieces of legislation into one central environmental planning statute. The integration of a number of fragmented regimes was a significant step forward for environmental management in New Zealand. The RMA was also significant for its incorporation of the principle of sustainability; the … Read More
Waiology • Mar 27, 2013 •
By Bryan Jenkins In her work that won her the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics, Elinor Ostrom identified three types of governance models for common pool resources like water. One is the “Leviathan model” where there is direct government provision of services with integration of policy making and operational functions. The second is the “privatisation model” where … Read More
Waiology • Mar 13, 2013 •
By Steve Couper Deteriorating water quality is consistently rated by many New Zealanders as being their number one environmental concern. Their concern is well placed. Some of our lowland waterways are now so badly polluted that the ‘clean green’ brand we promote is being actively challenged. The evidence for declining environmental health in these waterways is strong. Monitoring 77 … Read More
Mr February • Sep 04, 2012 •
Simon Johnson looks at the Government’s amendments to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and concludes we are arguing about what gear to drive in as we speed towards the cliff. The Government has kindly given us the opportunity to make a submission about how fast fast we should go over the emissions cliff. Time [...] … Read More