CoveragePost
August 25, 2025
Article by Matt Robson, former Alliance Party and New Zealand Government Cabinet Minister. The Initial vote on Kiwibank in the Labour-Alliance government in 2000 was 16 Labour against to 4 Alliance for. I was there when this was reversed, and in 2001 the 4 insurgent Alliance Ministers – Jim Anderton, Sandra Lee, Laila Harre and ... <a title="Matt Robson: The Public’s Kiwibank on the Auction Block" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/25/matt-robson-the-publics-kiwibank-on-the-auction-block/" aria-label="Read more about Matt Robson: The Public’s Kiwibank on the Auction Block">Read more</a>
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August 22, 2025
Analysis by Keith Rankin. This year, the heated non-debate in Aotearoa New Zealand about pay equity, has left important answers unquestioned. Equal Pay versus Pay Equity The first point that must be made is to distinguish ‘equal pay’ from ‘pay equity’. Equal pay means, for different identity groups, the same pay for the same work. ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Equal Pay, Pay Equity, and Cost-of-Living Narratives" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/08/22/keith-rankin-analysis-equal-pay-pay-equity-and-cost-of-living-narratives/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Equal Pay, Pay Equity, and Cost-of-Living Narratives">Read more</a>
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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>
CoveragePost
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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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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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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May 22, 2025
Analysis by Keith Rankin. The central narrative of New Zealand’s Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is ‘There is only so much money to go around’. (For example, her interview on RNZ on 20 May, Willis on her second Budget, price of butter. The interview also covers, in the usual subservient way our media addresses these ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Zero-Sum Fiscal Narratives" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/05/22/keith-rankin-analysis-budget-2025-zero-sum-fiscal-narratives/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Zero-Sum Fiscal Narratives">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 8, 2025
Analysis by Keith Rankin. The ‘see-saw’ chart above shows the accumulated ‘excess benefits’ that Aotearoa New Zealand, and a few other countries, have enjoyed from international trade over the last 40 years. These are benefits arising from ‘unbalanced trade’ which are in addition to the regular benefits – arising from efficient specialisation – of ‘balanced’ ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – International Trade over time: gifts with strings" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2025/05/08/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-international-trade-over-time-gifts-with-strings/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – International Trade over time: gifts with strings">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 22, 2024
Opinion by Hon. Matt Robson, former Alliance Party Cabinet Minister and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2000, the Initial vote on Kiwibank in the Labour-Alliance government was 16 votes against from Labour, and four votes in favour from the Alliance. I was there when this was reversed, and in 2001 the four insurgent Alliance ... <a title="Opinion: The New Zealand Public’s KiwiBank On The Auction Block" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/08/22/opinion-the-new-zealand-publics-kiwibank-on-the-auction-block/" aria-label="Read more about Opinion: The New Zealand Public’s KiwiBank On The Auction Block">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
August 16, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin Wednesday I wrote Department of Mum and Dad (Scoop 14 Aug 2024, or here on Evening Report). I finished by saying that, today, “I will propose a simple affordable solution which better fits centre-right than centre-left philosophies”. Here goes. My proposal is to pay a personal tax credit of $150 per ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – A Personal Tax Credit (PTC) of $150 for New Zealand" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/08/16/keith-rankin-analysis-a-personal-tax-credit-ptc-of-150-for-new-zealand/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – A Personal Tax Credit (PTC) of $150 for New Zealand">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 31, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Today is ‘tax cut day’. The present round of income tax cuts has been controversial, despite the fact that they are not ‘real’ tax cuts, only bracket adjustments which partially compensate for CPI inflation this decade. (Here is an interview today with University of Auckland economist Susan St John, which suggests ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Tax Cuts: 1982 and 2024" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/07/31/keith-rankin-analysis-tax-cuts-1982-and-2024/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Tax Cuts: 1982 and 2024">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
July 31, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. The above chart shows CPI inflation in New Zealand in historical context. The chart shows (in orange) the present policy target band of one to three percent annual inflation. And it shows the ‘home-ownership’ component of the CPI. The chart looks different to most charts of CPI inflation, because it uses ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – New Zealand’s Consumers Price Index: CPI Inflation past and present" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/07/31/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-new-zealands-consumers-price-index-cpi-inflation-past-and-present/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – New Zealand’s Consumers Price Index: CPI Inflation past and present">Read more</a>
