This book reveals the financial instruments and imperatives that drove the British colonial project in the nineteenth century. more

In this article, ESRA researcher Neil Vallelly interrogates the origins of wellbeing policy, arguing that the ‘idea that wellbeing is linked to a society that glorifies and hoards private property, exploits and precaritises work, and sees debt as a necessary component of having a place to live, access to healthcare, and getting an education, is one that we must challenge at every opportunity.’ more

In this chapter excerpt from the forthcoming ESRA collection ‘Whose Futures?’ Shannon Walsh considers the New Zealand Productivity Commission’s recent inquiry into Technological change and the future of work. He examines the inquiry as a case study in the limitations of mainstream economic thought on the question of the future of technology and technological change. more

Nadia Abu-Shanab interviews Tali Williams, the Retail, Finance and Commerce Sector Secretary of First Union. Williams was perhaps the union movement’s most prominent face through the COVID-19 lockdown, and she talks here frankly about organising, politics, and conflict. more

ESRA researchers and community activists team up for our annual Budget report. more

Crises can catalyse broad-based social change. Yet the shape of such changes is not determined in advance. In this contribution, four ESRA researchers propose some key principles that should guide the economic and social recovery from Covid-19 and future proof Aotearoa New Zealand. more

Denise Blake, Senior Lecturer in psychology at Massey University, demonstrates that being ‘disaster-ready’ is a discourse for the privileged and a form of structural violence. more

ESRA researcher Shannon Walsh takes a moment to reflect on how another think-tank, the New Zealand Initiative, has chosen to respond to the current crisis. more

ESRA researcher Jack Foster considers the financial aspects of the current crisis more

One year on from the white supremacist terrorist attack in Christchurch, gender-based violence specialist Hala Nasr reminds us that everyday racism and white supremacist terrorism are deeply connected. In this powerful reflection, Hala encourages us to honour the memory of the victims of the attack by tackling the indifference toward racism that is still very much embedded in our society. more

In this intervention ESRA researcher Ben Rosamond offers a timely analysis of the governments COVID-19 recovery package. more

In this chapter from the forthcoming ESRA collection ‘Whose Futures?’ Sy Taffel, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies and co-director of the Political Ecology Research Centre at Massey University, offers a diagnosis of dominant narratives of possible ecological futures and what they mean for us. more

In this intervention, ESRA researcher Vanessa Cole considers the Government’s controversial Kiwibuild policy and their continued failure to respond adequately to the housing crisis. more

In this article, ESRA Researchers Jack Foster & Dylan Taylor address growing concerns around voter turnout decline and its consequences for the future of democracy in Aotearoa. more

Recently, ESRA researcher Amanda Thomas spoke to Sophie Handford about the upcoming school strike for climate and the need for inter-generational solidarity in the struggle for climate justice. more

ESRA researchers have teamed up with community researchers and activists to consider what the 2019 ‘Wellbeing budget’ means for those who are worst served by our current system. more

This interview between documentary film maker Baz Macdonald and ESRA Researcher Campbell Jones discusses capitalism, crisis, and the prospects for change. more

Download a free copy of ESRA’s first book, ‘New Forms of Political Organisation’, or purchase a hard copy. more

This is the first of a series of occasional interventions on the subject of income distribution and adequacy in Aotearoa New Zealand. more

Aotearoa New Zealand has recently been in the global news as a bolthole for global billionaires preparing for the apocalypse, especially wealthy tech entrepreneurs and financial investors from the US. This report aims to shed light on how this segment of the global elite imagines the future. more

Solutions to traffic should never have to include depriving low income families of their ability to move around or put food on the table. more

This report focuses on how communities contest colonialism and capitalism to build more just, healthy and accessible environments. more

In this piece, Ben Rosamond addresses the nature of the form of sovereign political power imposed in Aotearoa through colonisation. more

Following the high amount of interest in The Return of Economic Planning conference this February, Economic and Social Research Aotearoa invites you to join a reading group that delves further into the nuances of economic planning. more