Publications
Our publications are the most important means of contact between the Centre's ideas and its general readership. Since 1976, The Centre for Independent Studies has produced some of the most authoritative publications in Australasian academia. From the influential Lands of Shame to the authoritative Will China Fail? CIS has published hundreds of publications covering topics from the social policy to legal affairs to religion and education.
In addition to books, the CIS publishes a range of shorter publications: Issue Analyses deal with controversial and current issues and Policy Mongraphs investigate and offer policy solutions. Since 1984, Policy magazine has published feature articles and reviews authored by some of the foremost national and international thinkers on public policy and ideas. The quality of writing and the diversity of topics in Policy ensure its status as a 'must read' by leading politicans, businesspeople and academics.
Hard copies of our publications are available for purchase through the bookstore. Many of the smaller publications are also available for download.
CONTRIBUTIONS
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All New Zealand Publications
Flight of the Kiwi: Addressing the Brain Drain
Why are so many New Zealanders flocking to Australian shores, and what can be done to stop the so-called Kiwi ‘brain drain’? In...
The Decade-long Binge: How Government Squandered Ten Years of Economic Prosperity
Government spending in New Zealand has increased enormously over the past decade in order to meet social goals. From 2000-2010...
FEATURE: Two-Party Democracies: The Gold Standard for Electoral Systems
New Zealand should abandon its electoral system at the November referendum.
Alcohol Policy and the Politics of Moral Panic
New Zealand’s proposed liquor legislation marks a return to old attitudes towards alcohol regulation that perversely believe,...
FEATURE: A 'Regulatory Constitution' for New Zealand
New Zealand is analysing the potential and prospects of a Regulatory Responsibility Act.
Superseding MMP: Real Electoral Reform for New Zealand
New Zealanders need to seize the opportunity of the upcoming referendum on electoral reform and reinvent their system of...
KiwiRail: Doomed to Fail?
Government ownership cannot and will not ‘fix’ rail in New Zealand. Luke Malpass argues that one year after the renationalisation,...
Supersize New Zealand : A Collection of Essays on How to Improve New Zealand's Public Policy
This collection of essays from the Centre for Independent Studies show that increased regulation and expenditure have put...
Emissions Tax: The Least Worst Option
The New Zealand government’s emissions trading system, due to come into force in 2010 for energy and 2013 for agriculture,...
Ending No. 8 Wire Welfare: Why New Zealand is Lagging Behind
The government’s welfare policy is moving in the right direction and a recession is a good time to reform the welfare system. ...
Submission to the NZ Business Tax Review 2008
The priorities for the NZ government should be: Reduce the corporate rate to 30% Reduce the top personal rate to 30% Reduce...
KiwiSaver or KiwiSucker? A Critical View
The promised benefits of KiwiSaver do not match the high cost of the taxpayer subsidies. With KiwiSaver and New Zealand Super...
OPINION: NZ Government Gags Critics
Changes to New Zealand's election laws favour incumbents over challengers and critics.
FEATURE: Explaining the Income Gap: Are Aussies and Kiwis that different?
New Zealand is Australia's poor cousin. Is the Kiwis' national culture holding them back?
Why is Australia So Much Richer than New Zealand?
New Zealand has lower labour productivity, higher income tax, fewer opportunities for capital investment and more sporadic...
Taming New Zealand’s Tax Monster
New Zealanders now pay an extra $20 billion per year in tax than they did in 2000. There needs to be a proper review of...
Reinventing New Zealand’s Welfare State
New Zealanders are much richer than when the welfare state was founded. People’s incomes should therefore be sufficient...
New Zealand’s Spending Binge
Government spending in New Zealand is now $20 billion higher than it was in 2000, yet the available social indicators show...
Why Tax Cuts Are Good for Growth
In the wake of the government’s $11 billion budget surplus, cutting taxes could deliver a significant boost to the economy....
How to Fix a Leaky Tax System
The New Zealand tax system has become complicated and unfair, and its integrity corroded by the introduction of a 39%...
FEATURE: The Fall and Rise of the State in New Zealand
After a brief respite in the 1980s and early 90s, the state's powerful role in New Zealand life has begun to grow again....
Should Australia and New Zealand Open Their Doors to Guest Workers From the Pacific? Costs and Benefits
Should Australia and New Zealand depart from their long term immigration policies to provide work places for short term seasonal...
Are New Zealanders Paying Too Much Tax?
New Zealand is a highly taxed country on a global scale and has record budget surpluses. The past decade has seen huge increases...
State of the Nation New Zealand 2003
The report, State of the Nation New Zealand, traces and analyses the profound social and economic changes occurring over...
FEATURE: New Zealand's flawed growth strategy
The government's committed to raising the country's growth rate, but this will not happen while public spending and taxation...
Gambles with the Economic Constitution: The Reregulation of Labour in New Zealand
The proposed Employment Relations Bill will prove costly for New Zealand citizens and workers. This report, says the proposed...
REVIEW: When Fair Enough Isn't Good Enough
Towards Personal Independence and Prosperity: Income Support For Persons of Working Age in New Zealand by James Cox (New...
COMMENT: World Competitiveness- Are We On Track?
An update on Australia's world competitiveness ranking.
COMMENT: The Air New Zealand Pilots Society
A Case Study in 'New Unionism'.
BOOK REVIEW: Conservation Strategies For New Zealand
Conservation Strategies for New Zealand edited by Peter Hartley (New Zealand Business Roundtable, 1997.)
BOOK REVIEW: Turning Point: The State of Australia and New Zealand
Turning Point: The State of Australia and New Zealand edited by Christopher Sheil (The Evatt Foundation and Allen & Unwin,...
Reforming New Zealand Welfare - International Perspectives
This 1997 book provides a comprehensive overview of international research and debates about the welfare state, discussing...
REVIEW ARTICLE: From Welfare State to Civil Society
Towards Welfare that Works in New Zealand by David G. Green (New Zealand Business Roundtable, 1996.)
FEATURE: Responsibility and Reform: A Conversation With Ruth Richardson
An interview with Ruth Richardson, the first Finance Minister in Jim Bloger's National Party Government in New Zealand.
FEATURE: On The Road To Full Employment
The success of the New Zealand Employment Contracts Act.
NOTES AND COMMENTS: CER and Australian Cultural Protection
The Services Protocol was expected to be the major instrument in the development of free trade in the services sector. But...
FEATURE: Liberalising New Zealand's Economy: Rehabilitation and Recovery
The economic reforms of the the 1980s in New Zealand constitute one of the most far-fetching liberalisations in modern times.
BOOK REVIEW: The Welfare Generation
Selfish Generations The Ageing of New Zealand's Welfare State by David Thomson (Bridget Williams Books, 1991.)
BOOK REVIEW: Beyond The Treaty
Justice and the Maori: Maori Claims in New Zealand Political Argument in the 1980s by Andrew Sharp (Oxford University Press,...
BOOK REVIEW: Soaking the Rich
A Capital Gains Tax for New Zealand by Rick Krever and Neil Brooks (Institute of Policy Studies, 1990.)
FEATURE: Trans-Tasman Shipping and the 1992 CER Review
Trans-Tasman shipping is on the agenda of the 1992 review of the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement...
BOOK REVIEW: Porter's Path to Prosperity
Upgrading New Zealand's Competitive Advantage by Graham T Crocombe, Michael J. Enright and Michael E. Porter (Oxford University...
FEATURE: New Zealand's Employment Contracts Act: An Incomplete Revolution
New Zealand's new Employment Contracts Act abolishes much of the apparatus of the old centralised wage-fixing system. Penelope...
FEATURE: How Not to Reduce New Zealand's Unemployment
More can be done to provide flexibility and opportunity in New Zealand.
FEATURE: New Zealand's Agriculture and Trade: Is There Life After the GATT Uruguay Round?
An assessment of the prospects for New Zealand's agricultural exports in the context of current attempts to liberalise world...
FEATURE: Restructuring New Zealand's Defence Force
New Zealand's National government proposes to continue the reductions in the country's armed forces initiated by the previous...
BOOK REVIEW: The Case for Freedom of Labour Contract
Freedom at Work: The Case for Reforming Labour Law in New Zealand by Penelope J. Brook (Oxford University Press, 1990.)
BOOK REVIEW: New Zealand's Industry: Sunset or Sunrise?
Turning it Around: Closure and Revitalization in New Zealand Industry edited by John Savage and Alan Bollard (Oxford University...
BOOK REVIEW: Economics for the Layman
Understanding the New Economy by Alfred Malabre (Dow Jones-Irwin, 1989)
BOOK REVIEW: New Zealand's Pacific Role
Towards a Pacific Island Community: Report of the South Pacific Policy Review Group (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,...
FEATURE: Restructuring New Zealand's Research and Development Policy
Research and development policy in New Zealand has undergone a radical reform to achieve greater accountability and contestability...
Reflections on Privatisation
In this Occasional Paper, Dr Roderick Deane, a close observer of New Zealand’s extensive privatisation program, argues...
BOOK REVIEW: New Zealand: Isolation and Foreign Policy
New Zealand: Isolation and Foreign Policy by Denis McLean (Pacific Security Research Institute, 1990.)
NOTES & COMMENTS: New Zealand's Employment Equity Bill: A Critique
New Zealand has had equal pay legislation in the state sector since 1961, as well as in the private sector since the Equal...
FEATURE: Comparable Worth in New Zealand: A Blow Against Equity
Current proposals to introduce 'employment equity' focus exclusively on wage outcomes and ignore processes of wage determination....
FEATURE: Populate or Languish? Selling the Right to Settle in New Zealand
In a recent study of New Zealand's immigration policy, Wolfgang Kasper proposed the sale of immigration rights are one way...
FEATURE: Private Sector Funding of Tertiary Education in New Zealand
The New Zealand government has rejected the Hawke Report's proposal to increase private funding for post-compulsory education...
FEATURE: Reforming New Zealand's Liquor Law
A transcript of a talk given by Alan Dormer, member of the Laking Committee, to the New Zealand Centre for Independent Studies,...
