The election has produced competing prescriptions for NZ’s grocery market – each targets a different barrier to genuine competition.
Articles on NZ Commerce Commission
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A state-owned, ‘no frills’ competitor would have one goal: to move commodities efficiently from producers to consumers as cheaply as possible.
Households might win from major electricity sector reform, but there would be powerful and noisy losers. The sums involved will be large, and the politics difficult.
A fifth of New Zealanders surveyed said they struggled to pay their power bills in the past year, forcing them to choose between electricity and other essentials.
Are supermarkets charging too much? This ‘three-limb test’ can help policymakers unpack the problem.
New Zealanders have less choice over their grocery shop than consumers in most developed countries. Breaking up the existing supermarket conglomerates would be a next logical step.
Four Australian banks dominate the banking sector in New Zealand. There has long been concern about whether consumers are getting the best deal, and yet 54% have never changed banks.
Foodstuffs has applied to merge its North and South Island operations. But this move will only further concentrate market power and the biggest losers will be New Zealand consumers.
The Commerce Commission says New Zealand’s banking sector is uncompetitive. But in the rush to fix the problem, regulators need to ensure they don’t introduce risk and instability into the system.
New Zealand has criminalised cartel behaviour. But by offering leniency to whistleblowers, the new rules are undermined.
Before the Commerce Commission investigates the banking industry, we should remember there are good reasons for the way the sector is set up – and the Reserve Bank is at the heart of it. .
How does keeping the price of petrol and diesel down align with New Zealand’s goal of being carbon zero by 2050? And do price caps even work anyway?
New Zealand’s supermarket industry has come under fire for high food prices and lack of competition. Is it time to consider treating the supermarket industry like water and power utilities?
Most consumers want a better deal, but New Zealand’s small size and relative isolation make it hard for large-scale competitors to enter the supermarket sector.
Top contributors
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Retail Academic Researcher, Business School, University of Sydney
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Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University
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Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor of Accounting and Capital, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
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Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
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Associate professor, University of Otago
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Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand
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Professor of Finance, Auckland University of Technology
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Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
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Senior Research Fellow, Department of Public Health, University of Otago
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Visiting Scholar, School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
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Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
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Senior Lecturer in Marketing , University of Otago
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Senior lecturer in Strategy, Adelaide University
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Professor of Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington