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Dennis Wesselbaum

Dennis Wesselbaum

The Conversation

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Nicola Willis is right: NZ’s economy isn’t as bad as the ‘merchants of misery’ claim

Nicola Willis is right: NZ’s economy isn’t as bad as the ‘merchants of misery’ claim

New Zealand has been in a ‘stagflationary spiral’ for years. Pulling out of that takes time, but signs of recovery are real.

05.10.2025 6

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum

Around 900,000 Kiwis experience food insecurity: it’s a quiet crisis that needs urgent attention

Going hungry sometimes or often has become increasingly common for many New Zealanders. Solutions need to be targeted to individual or household...

15.09.2025 10

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum

Treasury has a great cost-benefit calculator for big-spending projects – we just need to use it better

In an era of tight budgets and complex social challenges, New Zealand can not afford to ignore the tools such as the CBAx, which can improve decision...

24.08.2025 7

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum

How real-time data can lead to better decisions on everything from NZ’s interest rates to business investment

New Zealanders have often been frustrated with crucial economic decisions being made using months’-old data. A new tool is starting to bridge that...

29.07.2025 10

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum

Willis warns of a ‘tight’ budget to come, but NZ should be going for productivity, not austerity

Austerity has become the global default response to tough economic times. But New Zealand should be prioritising investment over cuts to foster...

30.04.2025 30

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum

5 years on from its first COVID lockdown, NZ faces hard economic choices – but rebuilding trust must come first

The pandemic – and the emergency responses to it – laid bare fissures in New Zealand society, while permanently shifting the way many live,...

03.04.2025 6

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum

Calculating the economic cost of climate change is tricky, even futile – it’s also a distraction

Our energies would be better spent tackling the tangible effects of global heating than debating the future dollar value of failing to act.

25.02.2025 20

The Conversation

Dennis Wesselbaum