The New Zealand Initiative

Renowned urbanist Alain Bertaud has spent six decades studying cities: from working as a young draftsman in Chandigarh in 1963 to advising governments worldwide on urban land markets. His book Order Without Design has become a touchstone for New Zealand's housing reforms, cited by ministers on both sides of the aisle. In this episode, Eric and Benno are joined by Bertaud and Salim Furth of the Mercatus Centre to discuss why cities are labour markets first and infrastructure projects second, what happens when planners try to control things they cannot predict, why monitoring land prices may be the single most important thing a planning department can do, and how to make sure infrastructure investment and delivery serves the spontaneous order rather than the other way around. As both guests note, New Zealand has worked through so many of the foundational policy questions that the debate is now at the frontier: how to finance and deliver infrastructure under genuine uncertainty, in a system that lets cities grow flexibly. These are problems you only get to when the earlier questions have been answered well. The world is watching.

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich and Eric Crampton are joined by retired Major General John Howard to assess the Iran conflict three weeks on, covering how it has escalated, what the odds of de-escalation look like, and whether a US ground invasion or ceasefire is realistic. They also explore the wider global picture, from China's posture around Taiwan to Ukraine's worsening position, and what it all means for New Zealand's fuel security, energy resilience, and national preparedness.

In this episode, Nick talks with Bryce about the government’s proposed replacement of the Resource Management Act and what it means for property rights. Bryce argues the bills fall short of the government’s stated commitment to property rights, lacking the economic disciplines needed to ensure regulation delivers net benefits for New Zealanders.

In this episode, Oliver talks to retired Major General John Howard about the first week of US–Israel strikes on Iran — what the opening strikes reveal, how Iran is responding, and why the risk of escalation remains real. They then zoom out to the global ripple effects (Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, NATO cohesion) and the practical consequences for New Zealand, from fuel and supply-chain disruption to the need for more proactive national security planning.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report, Renovating the Nation, which proposes selling around $25 billion worth of government-owned commercial assets and reinvesting the proceeds into critical public infrastructure.

Drawing on the success of New South Wales's asset recycling programme, Roger argues the Crown has too much capital tied up in businesses it doesn't need to own, and that ring-fencing sale proceeds in an independently governed fund could deliver the roads, hospitals, and public transport New Zealand desperately needs.