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Economics

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New Australia-Vanuatu deal won’t replicate Falepili-style pact, says analyst

August 18, 2025

A Pacific analyst and commentator says it is unlikely that Vanuatu will agree to any exclusive rights in the new security and economic pact with Australia. Senior ministers of both countries, including deputy prime ministers Richard Marles and Johnny Koanapo, initialled the Nakamal Agreement at the summit of Mount Yasur volcano on Tanna Island, ahead ... <a title="New Australia-Vanuatu deal won’t replicate Falepili-style pact, says analyst" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/18/new-australia-vanuatu-deal-wont-replicate-falepili-style-pact-says-analyst/" aria-label="Read more about New Australia-Vanuatu deal won’t replicate Falepili-style pact, says analyst">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Analysis – Goodies and Baddies? Lessons since the World War of 1914

August 15, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. World War One is really the first conflagration of a Great World War which lasted between 1914 and 1945. That great war was a ‘”game” of two halves’ with an extended and less violent mid-war phase; total war, with an interregnum which exacerbated rather than resolved the trigger issues of early ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Goodies and Baddies? Lessons since the World War of 1914" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/15/keith-rankin-analysis-goodies-and-baddies-lessons-since-the-world-war-of-1914/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Goodies and Baddies? Lessons since the World War of 1914">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Analysis – Stimulate or Suffocate, in the light of Older Women’s Spending?

August 8, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. In the wake of the recent release of labour force data (Household Labour Force Survey, HLFS, Nicola Willis bemoans ‘glass half empty’ view of unemployment figures, RNZ 6 August 2025), 1918-1920 National Party Leader Simon Bridges, has called for economic “stimulus” to rescue in particular the dire Auckland economy. (See Call ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Stimulate or Suffocate, in the light of Older Women’s Spending?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/08/keith-rankin-analysis-stimulate-or-suffocate-in-the-light-of-older-womens-spending/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Stimulate or Suffocate, in the light of Older Women’s Spending?">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Employment growth in New Zealand for retirement-age women

August 8, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. The above chart shows – in red – the annual percentage increase (since 1988) in numbers employed of women aged 65-69, based on Household Labour Force Survey employment data. (And it shows, for comparison, males aged 30-34; in blue, their percentages are shown on the right-hand side of the chart. I ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Employment growth in New Zealand for retirement-age women" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/08/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-employment-growth-in-new-zealand-for-retirement-age-women/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Employment growth in New Zealand for retirement-age women">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Chart Analysis: Employment in New Zealand – especially of women – at the Age Margins

August 7, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. Quarterly Labour market data in Aotearoa New Zealand was released today. Much of the data is functionally useless, because of definitions which disguise rather than reveal important trends and turning points. I have focussed on employment data (although the definition of ’employment’ is too generous to be optimally useful) relative to ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis: Employment in New Zealand – especially of women – at the Age Margins" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/07/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-employment-in-new-zealand-especially-of-women-at-the-age-margins/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis: Employment in New Zealand – especially of women – at the Age Margins">Read more</a>

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Mark Brown rejects talk of ‘strategic shift’ in Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship

August 6, 2025

By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Rarotonga The Cook Islands has no intention of leaving its special relationship with New Zealand, says Prime Minister Mark Brown. The Cook Islands marked 60 years of self-governance in free association with New Zealand on August 4. “The value of our relationship with New Zealand cannot be overstated,” ... <a title="Mark Brown rejects talk of ‘strategic shift’ in Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/06/mark-brown-rejects-talk-of-strategic-shift-in-cook-islands-new-zealand-relationship/" aria-label="Read more about Mark Brown rejects talk of ‘strategic shift’ in Cook Islands-New Zealand relationship">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand’s highly favourable Terms of Trade

August 4, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. The most important measure of the favourability or otherwise of the international economic environment is called a country’s ‘Terms of Trade’. This label essentially means ‘barter price’, reflecting that international trade is essentially one country’s barter with the rest of the world. (Digression. We note that such ‘barter’ is rarely the ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand’s highly favourable Terms of Trade" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/04/keith-rankin-analysis-new-zealands-highly-favourable-terms-of-trade/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand’s highly favourable Terms of Trade">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Analysis – How did New Zealand compare in the first half of the 2020s?

July 29, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. The following two tables show New Zealand and the 24 other economies in the world most easily and fruitfully compared to New Zealand. The countries are sorted with the worst-performing economies (in terms of economic growth per capita) listed at the top. Thus, taking four-year compounded growth for 2020, 2021, 2022 ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – How did New Zealand compare in the first half of the 2020s?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/07/29/keith-rankin-analysis-how-did-new-zealand-compare-in-the-first-half-of-the-2020s/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – How did New Zealand compare in the first half of the 2020s?">Read more</a>

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Why has a bill to relax NZ foreign investment rules had so little scrutiny?

July 22, 2025

ANALYSIS: By Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau While public attention has been focused on the domestic fast-track consenting process for infrastructure and mining, Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour has been pushing through another fast-track process — this time for foreign investment in New Zealand. But it has had almost no public ... <a title="Why has a bill to relax NZ foreign investment rules had so little scrutiny?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/07/22/why-has-a-bill-to-relax-nz-foreign-investment-rules-had-so-little-scrutiny/" aria-label="Read more about Why has a bill to relax NZ foreign investment rules had so little scrutiny?">Read more</a>

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Keith Rankin Analysis – Public Debt, Japan, and Wilful Blindness

July 10, 2025

Analysis by Keith Rankin. I just heard on Radio New Zealand a claim by a British commentator, Hugo Gye (Political Editor of The i Paper), that the United Kingdom (among other countries) has a major public debt crisis, and that if nothing is done about it (such as what Rachel Reeves – Chancellor of the ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Public Debt, Japan, and Wilful Blindness" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/07/10/keith-rankin-analysis-public-debt-japan-and-wilful-blindness/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Public Debt, Japan, and Wilful Blindness">Read more</a>

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Micronesian Summit in Majuro this week aims to be ‘one step ahead’

July 1, 2025

By Giff Johnson, editor, Marshall Islands Journal/RNZ Pacific correspondent in Majuro The Micronesian Islands Forum cranks up with officials meetings this week in Majuro, with the official opening for top leadership from the islands tomorrow morning. Marshall Islands leaders are being joined at this summit by their counterparts from Kiribati, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, ... <a title="Micronesian Summit in Majuro this week aims to be ‘one step ahead’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/07/01/micronesian-summit-in-majuro-this-week-aims-to-be-one-step-ahead/" aria-label="Read more about Micronesian Summit in Majuro this week aims to be ‘one step ahead’">Read more</a>

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Fiji’s Dr Prasad unveils $4.8b budget as deficit widens

June 30, 2025

By Kaya Selby, RNZ Pacific journalist The Fiji government is spending big on this year’s budget. The country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Biman Prasad, unveiled a FJ$4.8 billion (about NZ$3.5 billion) spending package, complete with cost of living measures and fiscal stimulus, to the Fijian Parliament on Friday. This is about F$280 ... <a title="Fiji’s Dr Prasad unveils $4.8b budget as deficit widens" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/06/30/fijis-dr-prasad-unveils-4-8b-budget-as-deficit-widens/" aria-label="Read more about Fiji’s Dr Prasad unveils $4.8b budget as deficit widens">Read more</a>