Long stories shortest in our political economy this week:
The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers without challenging its own assumption that it can’t borrow more in its own right, or understanding PPPs are slower, more expensive, riskier and more complicated than borrowing and investing directly.
David Seymour’s lunch programme became even more of a logistical and political debacle for Christopher Luxon, who is lagging even further behind in the polls.
Echoing Britain’s Brexit self-destruction, Donald Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs and jobs unnerved investors and consumers in the world’s largest economy.
Germany dropped its long-running objection to state borrowing and public investment, begging the question of why New Zealand is still stuck in an early 1990s time warp about using public debt to fund public investment.
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Long stories short, my top six news themes in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty in the week to March 16 are:
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