Rachel Hodder was a Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative from 2016 to 2017. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Canterbury where she previously lectured courses in game theory, econometrics, and labour economics.
Rachel co-authored our immigration report, The New New Zealanders.
I was nearly ready to blame the Government for all the things wrong with the country. But then at the weekend National kindly helped me to figure out which scapegoat deserves to be the target of my ire. Read more
The Whanganui District Council has taken the bold step of banning the use of electronic cigarettes (vaping) in public areas. Experts recognise that vaping is a much safer alternative to smoking and has been a critical factor in helping people quit. Read more
Politicians are often accused of trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. It isn’t often they try to pull the wool under the public’s feet. Read more
Important developments often get overlooked during busy news weeks. With the Lions tour, the America’s Cup victory, and a salacious scandal or two, it can be hard to keep up. Read more
It may not have caught your attention but New Zealand is in the grips of a tragic health disaster. Is this a particularly deadly new strain of the flu? Read more
You should never look a gift horse in the mouth. Nor should you publicly bag the gift horse and accuse it of causing misery across the country. Read more
Treating symptoms without diagnosing the disease can provide temporary relief but is not the best way to find the cure in the long run. So it is with medicine, as it is with policy. Read more
Whenever controversial issues are debated, the loudest voices are often the least informed. Nowhere is this more evident than in the gender pay gap debate. Read more
If migrants are generally good for New Zealand and already contribute substantially to the public purse, why on earth would The New Zealand Initiative have suggested a levy on new migrants? The Initiative’s report on immigration, The New New Zealanders: Why migrants make good Kiwis, finds that New Zealand’s current immigration system is broadly successful but some tweaks could be worth considering. Read more
The New Zealand Initiative this week made a case for why, when assessing immigration, it is important to count the benefits and not just the costs. Not surprisingly it was greeted with an intemperate response from NZ First leader Winston Peters, who railed at our finding that migrants are not stealing jobs from Kiwis. Read more
Six months ago, when we started scoping the Initiative’s immigration report, we had a very specific audience in mind: Winston Peters. Our aim was to assemble all the available research and have a fact-based conversation with New Zealand’s most prominent immigration sceptic. Read more
Ahead of the launch of The New New Zealanders: Why migrants make good Kiwis, comedian and TV personality Guy Williams spent the day chatting to the report authors. In the first of a series of videos, Guy, and the report authors Jason Krupp and Dr Rachel Hodder discuss the report findings and myth-bust some of the fears that people have about immigration. Read more
New Zealand is widely regarded as a unique place, renowned for its natural beauty, culture, economic freedom, and quality of life. Immigration has played an important part in achieving this outcome. Read more
‘Alternative facts’ has been the phrase of the week. President Trump’s attempts to increase the crowd figures at his inauguration demonstrated a new low in post-truth politics. Read more
It’s pretty good being a working woman in New Zealand, which has one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the OECD. Gender disparities in many occupations have been closing. Read more