The Gone By Lunchtime team returns, with more hot takes than a jalapeno thief.
Money may not be important in the big scheme of things, but where money gets put, and how much, tells us volumes about what the government thinks it is doing right. And our government thinks things are going pretty well, writes the Morgan Foundation's Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw.
The government's budget announcement trumpeted a new $224 million spend on mental health - but is the plan really as impressive as it sounds? Kyle MacDonald digs into the numbers.
After a year of taking heavy shots from the opposition, National responded with a 1-2 of their own with today's budget announcements, writes Ben Thomas.
Tax cuts, more money for infrastructure, and catch-up spending on a raft of areas where it had previously been frozen. All well and good, says economist Shamubeel Eaqub, but what about housing?
Does the minister of finance understand the needs of Auckland? He lives here, so of course he does, right? Here are five things, and the speech to accompany them, that Simon Wilson would love to hear Steven Joyce deliver in his first budget speech today.
Budget 2017: We invited Eric Crampton to make the argument for a tax cut. Here he offers the case for a modest cut to reflect inflation, the case for a more substantial cut, and, for good measure, a dumb case
Budget 2017: What does it all mean and why should we care? Over to you, Morgan Godfery
Budget 2017: I had a dream of an evidence-based budget for a thriving New Zealand, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw.
Budget 2017: Bill English has been trumpeting the "social investment approach" as a core part of his thinking, and it underpins much of this week's budget. For economist Simon Chapple, however, it amounts to a rhetorical banner that obscures standard centre-right political goals