The tab-closing worthies:
- ACT supports a carbon dividend. Good!
- I had to point a lot of people at this last week on Twitter. The 2018 TWG's advice about GST. Says the same thing as the prior National Government's TWG. Good backgrounder for those needing background.
- Peter Martin worrying that Australia picks up NZ's stupid excise holiday.
- Matt Nolan also doesn't like the excise holiday.
- A helpful reminder that at least some of lockdown's costs were inframarginal.
- The borders are opening. Hope there's more hospital capacity by then, or that visitors are provided with appropriate warnings.
- Rotorua asks to be counted as a Tier 1 City, so it can more easily build houses. It's a fun one to think about. Nothing in the Medium Density Residential Standards rule applied to Tier 1 centres is outside of Councils' ability to do on their own. They could upzone on their own. Perhaps best to think about it as a way of binding to broad upzoning, and avoiding the salami-slices that councillors might otherwise be pushed into?
- Larry Summers worries we're heading for stagflation. I wish I had confidence that RBNZ has the competence to navigate the waters ahead.
- Running urban development through environmental planning processes gives NIMBYs lots of room to veto things. Here's Will Rinehart on how it plays out in California under the California Environmental Quality Act. Sounds a lot like New Zealand's Resource Management Act and its problems. PRI has reform suggestions for California.
- Nobody expects the Royal Society's inquisition. Fortunately, it has now been dropped.
