Do today's politicians have the courage to make hard choices? Or has the furious pace of modern politics put an end to the age of reform? In Quiet Achievers, Oliver Hartwich looks at New Zealand's record on spending, tax and welfare. He discovers that while Australia has been avoiding difficult decisions, the New Zealanders have been silently forging ahead. The R.G. Menzies Essay series is a forum for enlightened public debate commissioned by the Menzies Research Centre Oliver Hartwich is Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Series Editor: Nick Cater "A perceptive analysis of the...
Do today's politicians have the courage to make hard choices? Or has the furious pace of modern politics put an end to the age of reform? In Quiet Ach...
Over the past years, we have become used to Europe's debt crisis. However, the fiscal problems of countries such as Greece are only the tip of the iceberg. Europe's crisis has much deeper roots. In this essay, Dr Oliver Hartwich presents a sketch of Europe's decline. The continent that invented and dominated the modern world has gambled away its future. Run by distant and unaccountable political elites, the EU embarked on a project of political integration for which there was never any popular appetite. At the same time, government spending across the continent increased to levels never...
Over the past years, we have become used to Europe's debt crisis. However, the fiscal problems of countries such as Greece are only the tip of the ice...
