Three years of recession deeper than GFC

Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, September 20:

1. New Zealand’s total GDP contracted less than expected in the June quarter, but per-capita GDP extended its three-year-long slump at a rate that is faster than after the Great Financial Crisis’s per-capita recession, which lasted five years.

2. In scoop of the day, RNZ’s Guyon Espiner reports on the Chief Ombudsman’s rebuke of Casey Costello over murky evidence-keeping around her backing to sell heated tobacco, a second sanction on a minister the PM has yet to punish.

3. In deep-dive of the day, New Zealand economist Stu Donovan explains to ABC’s David Speers how Auckland’s Unitary Plan could be a model for Australia.

4. In solutions news, fresh data from Wellington shows how upgrading cycling infrastructure increases cycle lane usage.

5. In quote of the day, Ayesha Verrall tells Lester Levy to get rid of Te Whatu Ora’s ‘North Korean’ NDAs.

6. In chart of the day, a new study of healthcare systems globally found New Zealand was almost as bad as the United States in providing fair and equal access to the sickest of the poorest in society.

(There is more detail, analysis and links to documents below the paywall fold and in the podcast above for paying subscribers. If we get over 100 likes we’ll open it up for public reading, listening and sharing.)

1. A per-capita recession on track to be worse than GFC

Per-capita GDP fall deeper & for longer than after ‘Mother of All Budgets’