Morning roundup

Have to get the browser tabs closed before heading over to PREFU. Will Treasury have come up with an estimate on the tobacco burn in the accounts they'd missed at BEFU? Or will a billion dollars or so just not matter much given the scale of the mess they'll be reporting? We'll find out!

In any case, the closing of the tabs:

• Works in Progress really becoming a must-read. Dattani et al on why we didn't get a malaria vaccine sooner. Incredible history here. Advance market commitments for vaccines treating diseases experienced in poorer countries would be a great part of foreign aid.
• Max Rashbrooke's take from our debate last week. I agree with him on getting more frontline input into fixing public sector messes. 
• Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment's take on the first Emissions Reduction Plan. To me it's an argument for abolishing all of these things in the covered sector and just legislating the quantum of unbacked NZU that can be issued between now and 2050 - though PCE wouldn't see it that way.
• The Economist on Law & Economics. The revolution has yet to come to NZ alas. 
• So over 40% of Wellington's drinking water is lost due to leaks, and we're looking at heavy water restrictions come summer as consequence. This is what happens when people keep voting for councilors who take money that should be going into maintenance, and flipping it into flashy convention centres, library rebuilds that cost a hundred million dollars more than they should, do-ups of every minor 'heritage' public building. People of Wellington, the enemy is us. Stop voting for councilors and mayors who promise anything other than fixing the pipes. 
• Abandoning consensus on MDRS is the stupidest bit of National's platform. But their promise of a web filter to keep Kiwis from accessing foreign gambling sites is pretty dumb. Not nearly as consequential as housing, but still. More on the filter proposal at BusinessDesk.
• The demesne of the Baron of Miramar. Dileepa Fonseka has more on the Shelly Bay tragedy. 
• My column in Newsroom ($) on RBNZ blackballing experts from the monetary policy committee. Meanwhile, a former RBNZ board member doesn't believe the current line on it.
• Len Cook on no surprises and briefings for incoming ministers. And the fourth piece in the BusinessDesk series on the state of the public sector.
• BusinessDesk deep dive into what a 100% NZ gin would have to look like. Really neat detail here. 
• This is not a serious way of deciding on expensive infrastructure.