Canterbury University economics lecturer Eric Crampton says the government missed an opportunity to address long- and medium-term problems in the budget.

Youth unemployment exceeded 25% at a time the adult unemployment rate did not top 5.4%. There is an answer, but it will probably fall into John Key's "good economics/bad politics" bucket.

 The lead author of the Berl report on the social costs of alcohol says the criticisms of it are unfair and misplaced.

Adrian Slack says Berl was only commissioned by the Ministry of Health and ACC to look at the social costs and not the benefits of alcohol, and would have needed an additional $135,000 were it to extend its remit to examining the benefits and policy implications.

The Berl report into the social costs of alcohol being used by the Law Commission is work that doesn’t look like it meets the “normal standards you would expect”, according to Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Dr Peter Bushnell.