Animal spirits are back in fashion in NZ

The idea of injecting a bit of animalistic competition into NZ is making a comeback. (Image: NZME)

Mon, 17 Feb 2025

If there was one unifying theme across all the speeches and discussions at the University of Waikato Economics forum last week it was this: NZ is too damned comfortable. The conference started with Finance Minister Nicola Willis talking about how the grocery market was too cozy and needed a new competitor, then moved on to Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen musing about the need for businesses to take more risks, before progressing to a panel of artificial intelligence enthusiasts talking about how standing still in the AI race car...

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Economy

What Willis was told ahead of Orr’s shock resignation

It’s been revealed that Finance Minister Nicola Willis was briefed on how to answer questions from the media on whether Adrian Orr ever raised his voice with her, following his shock resignation as Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor.Documents released to the Herald under the Of...

Staff reporters 3:20pm

Infrastructure