🚨 Urban economics short courses 🚨. Registrations are now open for three urban economics short courses that we're running in: .- Wellington 15-17 September.- Auckland 22-24 September.- Christchurch 20-21 October. More details and links to register below ⤵️.

RT @verynormalman: Australia accidentally becoming the most functional major anglosphere country

What do you want to know?.

When we relax planning rules that restrict development in desirable locations, then more development can and will often occur. Many people seem strangely resistant to what strikes me as an intuitive process.

The funny thing about "You can't beat Wellington on a good day" is that it's both cliche and a little bit true. Specifically, there's something about the interplay between the light + geography (especially the coastline and the ocean) that is oh so delightful.

RT @urbanistfromwhk: Cannot be bothered turning this into a thread but TLDR, enable homes where people want and the market will scale to de….

I wish more drivers understood that people who are cycling sometimes need to turn right, too. And this will mean people who are cycling will sometimes have to merge into + across queues of cars. Just like people driving have to do sometimes. Please don't honk when they do.

Ode to joy

Fascinating (and promising) to see the home bias for KiwiSaver investments decline over time. Fwiw I've found many default funds (in both New Zealand and Australia) tend to have a massive home bias, which isn't ideal when you think about correlated economic shocks.

Camelia flowers ftw

With my bae hitting the streets of island Bay.

RT @urbanistfromwhk: "Sometimes the only option, with no retirement savings, is to downsize to free up capital." . THIS IS FINE!!!. Retiree….

Fwiw I think the following three statements are true:.- Unions will usually (but not always) act in the interests of their members.- The interests of their members don't necessarily align with the interests of workers as a wider group.- Unions can certainly be a force for good.

I think the distinction between markets and business is very important and something that people on the right of politics should emphasise more regularly. And, for those on the left, perhaps an analogous distinction is "pro-worker not pro-union"?.

Hey Wellington peeps do you know anywhere that I can buy hard Dutch licorice coins in this city?.

RT @mattkahn1966: Joe Tracy and I are 128 years old combined. At our advanced age, we are still ambitious and we just received an acceptan….

At some point soon, I hope we stop subsidizing people to stay in large and expensive homes that they can't afford by giving them "rates rebates". Feel like there must be a better way to support low-income households via the general welfare system.

RT @kellyenz: My perspective on real house price trends is it’s good not bad news. Beware when the RBNZ gets impatient like this. It bree….

We've decided to keep our adopted puppy's original name, "Maggie" (full name, Margaret Atwoof). Maggie has been through a lot of change for a wee pup, so we think this pinch of stability might be helpful. Now thinking about getting Maggie a red cape and a bonnet.

RT @LinkofSunshine:

"My new family seems weird but nice. That guy talks about housing a lot but I guess we all have our hobby horses."