Michael Littlewood

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Retirement income policies: what we know and what we don’t

New Zealand has a retirement income framework that, compared with the rest of the developed world, is closest to our ideal. However, that’s a low bar to clear. We can make things much better but we must start with impeccable, deep data.


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Are home-ownership rates really falling?

There is a significant problem with the data on home-ownership. There are too many gaps in the questions asked in the 2013 Census for us to be certain about any recent trends in home-ownership rates.


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New Zealand Superannuation is expected to be cheaper?

Those with any interest in policy issues that matter to New Zealand’s economic future know that we have an ageing population; that there will soon be twice the number of pensioners as now, with bigger increases in the number of ‘old old’ with concomitant increases in health costs.


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Are home ownership rates really falling?

In May this year, the Retirement Policy and Research Centre (RPPC) published a PensionBriefing: Census 2013 - shortcomings in questions about housing. It suggests that trends in home-ownership rates are less clear than many claim and may even have been relatively unchanged in the 30 years 1976-2006.