In this episode, James talks to Craig Mellare and Abdul Razeed, senior lecturers at the University of Sydney Business School, about their empirical study on grade inflation in Australian higher education. They discuss findings showing that grades have risen significantly over the past decade despite no improvement in student ability, and explore the institutional pressures driving this phenomenon including student evaluation systems, time constraints on academic staff, and the need to manage student appeals and expectations.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Sam Andrews, Chief Strategy Officer at Bastion Security, about New Zealand’s cybersecurity landscape and the evolving threats facing organisations. They explore how AI is reshaping both attacks and defences, the strengths and weaknesses of New Zealand’s regulatory framework, and why building resilience is just as vital as strong security.

In this episode, James Kierstead talks with Sarah McLaughlin, Senior Scholar, Global Expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), about her forthcoming book Authoritarians in the Academy. They explore how authoritarian governments, particularly China, pressure universities abroad through funding ties, partnerships, and intimidation of students and scholars.

The conversation covers cases from New Zealand and Australia, including cancelled Tiananmen Square events and harassment of pro-democracy students, as well as the investigation of China scholar Anne-Marie Brady. Sarah and James also discuss the role of Confucius Institutes and student groups, the influence of regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and broader threats to free expression including religious censorship laws and new restrictions on campus speech in the United States and parts of Europe.

In this episode, Eric and Nick talk to Michael Keen, a former Deputy Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department and co-author of "Rebellion, Rascals and Revenue", about the many ways taxation can go wrong throughout history.

They explore bizarre historical taxes like Britain's window tax and ship taxation, discuss New Zealand's exemplary GST system, and examine how poor tax design can lead to smuggling, rebellions, and unintended economic distortions.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Stephen Crosswell, a partner at Baker and McKenzie in Hong Kong, the world’s strongest law firm brand. He is chair of the firm’s Asia-Pacific Antitrust & Competition Group and one of Hong Kong’s leading trial lawyers, admitted to practise in five countries. Stephen has seen first-hand how law shapes innovation, and he joins Oliver to explore what history, from Roman law to Adam Smith and the Industrial Revolution, can reveal about the forces driving change today.

Their conversation centres on Stephen’s paper "The Common Law and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations", which asks whether the legal system we have makes a difference to whether our societies can innovate, prosper, and deliver material improvements to our quality of life. They consider why common law’s flexibility may provide a stronger foundation than sweeping regulation for addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence and digital platforms.

In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report "Unscrambling Government," which proposes consolidating New Zealand's extraordinarily complex government structure from 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43 departments down to a more manageable 15-20 portfolios with corresponding departmental consolidation.

They discuss how New Zealand's fragmented ministerial system creates accountability problems, increases fiscal costs, and hampers effective decision-making on critical issues like housing affordability, comparing unfavourably to other small advanced economies that operate with far simpler structures.

Read the report here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/unscrambling-government-less-confusion-more-efficiency/

In this episode, Oliver talks to Eric Crampton and Benno Blaschke about the New Zealand government’s supermarket competition reforms, which closely reflect The New Zealand Initiative’s policy framework—a major policy win that saw their research inform the Minister of Finance’s approach.

They explain how their practical policy document shifted government thinking away from heavy-handed breakups and toward tackling the real structural barriers in planning and regulation.

In this episode, Oliver talks to James Keirstead about his latest research report "Amazing Grades" which provides the first systematic analysis of grade inflation across all New Zealand universities.

They discuss how A-grades have increased by 13 percentage points over two decades, reaching 35% of all grades awarded, and explore potential solutions including statistical moderation systems and national examinations to restore meaningful academic standards.

You can read Dr Kierstead's report "Amazing Grades: Grade Inflation at New Zealand Universities" here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/amazing-grades-grade-inflation-at-new-zealand-universities/

In this episode, Benno Blaschke talks to Oliver Hartwich about the recent Trump-Putin meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, where Trump appeared to abandon the Western position of seeking a ceasefire first in favour of Putin's demand for an immediate "peace deal" that would cement Russian territorial gains.

They discuss the troubling implications of Trump applauding Putin on arrival, the bizarre shared ride in the presidential limousine, and how this summit signals a dangerous shift from rules-based international order to great power politics that could embolden other territorial aggressors, particularly China.

In this episode, Eric talks to Ben Hamlin, Barrister at Clifton Chambers, about new Commerce Commission guidelines on occupational regulation and how professional licencing systems can restrict competition and increase prices for consumers. They discuss how government-created licencing boards often operate like cartels by limiting who can enter professions, and how the Commission's new guidance aims to prevent these anti-competitive practices.

Related links:

• Cabinet Office Circular CO (99) 6: Policy framework for occupational regulation. - https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-99-6-policy-framework-occupational-regulation

• Commerce Commission. 2025. Occupational regulation guidelines. - https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/367556/Occupational-Regulations-Guidelines-July-2025.pdf