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Rodney Dickens

About

Rodney is the MD of Strategic Risk Analysis, which prepares and sells reports on housing, construction, monetary policy and exchange rates.
Email Rodney

Member for

14 years 7 months

Latest articles

Quality analysis, unlike that done by the bank economists and Reserve Bank, points to a dire near-term outlook, questioning the case for more OCR hikes at this stage, says Rodney Dickens
20th Jul 22, 11:39am
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Quality analysis, unlike that done by the bank economists and Reserve Bank, points to a dire near-term outlook, questioning the case for more OCR hikes at this stage, says Rodney Dickens
Independent economist Rodney Dickens gives the RBNZ both barrels, arguing its incompetence in assessing the outlook for house prices and the labour market is so bad it will be a fluke if it makes good OCR decisions
6th Aug 21, 7:02am
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Independent economist Rodney Dickens gives the RBNZ both barrels, arguing its incompetence in assessing the outlook for house prices and the labour market is so bad it will be a fluke if it makes good OCR decisions
Independent economist Rodney Dickens points out how weakly the ANZ business confidence survey correlates to actual outcomes and points to 'huge' political bias as a key reason
16th Feb 21, 10:53am
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Independent economist Rodney Dickens points out how weakly the ANZ business confidence survey correlates to actual outcomes and points to 'huge' political bias as a key reason
Economist Rodney Dickens sees sharply rising interest rates as vaccines allow a good recovery, but that will only accentuate problems arising from the massive rescue debt, likely triggering another more severe downturn
6th Feb 21, 2:12pm
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Economist Rodney Dickens sees sharply rising interest rates as vaccines allow a good recovery, but that will only accentuate problems arising from the massive rescue debt, likely triggering another more severe downturn
Economist Rodney Dickens wonders if bank lending criteria are the reason the housing market remains sluggish despite interest rate cuts
18th Dec 19, 2:07pm
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Economist Rodney Dickens wonders if bank lending criteria are the reason the housing market remains sluggish despite interest rate cuts
Rodney Dickens identifies the structural shift the RBNZ made during the GFC that means the effective OCR is much higher than the actual OCR, explaining why our retail interest rates are at current levels
11th Oct 19, 10:02am
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Rodney Dickens identifies the structural shift the RBNZ made during the GFC that means the effective OCR is much higher than the actual OCR, explaining why our retail interest rates are at current levels
Rodney Dickens crunches the numbers around the sharp drop in our factory PMI to see if it is signaling an imminent fall off in economic growth
3rd Sep 19, 10:00am
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Rodney Dickens crunches the numbers around the sharp drop in our factory PMI to see if it is signaling an imminent fall off in economic growth
Rodney Dickens says the Reserve Bank used dubious assertions to justify its aggressive rate cut. He says this is a misguided pro-growth experiment, much like the same one a decade ago
11th Aug 19, 3:41pm
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Rodney Dickens says the Reserve Bank used dubious assertions to justify its aggressive rate cut. He says this is a misguided pro-growth experiment, much like the same one a decade ago
Rodney Dickens says understanding how our local long term interest rates are influenced has huge implications for how much they will move in response to RBNZ and Government pro-growth and pro-inflation policies
17th Jul 19, 9:17am
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Rodney Dickens says understanding how our local long term interest rates are influenced has huge implications for how much they will move in response to RBNZ and Government pro-growth and pro-inflation policies
Rodney Dickens says current official forecasts are tainted by wishful thinking and take no account of policies that will boost wage inflation. OCR cuts and fiscal stimulus will boost growth so that the labour market will be tighter next year than now
10th Jul 19, 2:04pm
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Rodney Dickens says current official forecasts are tainted by wishful thinking and take no account of policies that will boost wage inflation. OCR cuts and fiscal stimulus will boost growth so that the labour market will be tighter next year than now
Rodney Dickens notes it has been many years since the warnings of how jobs are under threat from machines first surfaced. He looks at the evidence of what has happened so far
28th Apr 19, 6:31am
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Rodney Dickens notes it has been many years since the warnings of how jobs are under threat from machines first surfaced. He looks at the evidence of what has happened so far
Rodney Dickens argues the ANZ business survey is a political toy for some respondents & ANZ uses misleading charts to try and make the survey look relevant
3rd Apr 19, 1:31pm
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Rodney Dickens argues the ANZ business survey is a political toy for some respondents & ANZ uses misleading charts to try and make the survey look relevant
Rodney Dickens explores why our productivity growth is falling, with a special look at migration flows and the new bank capital requirements
24th Mar 19, 12:20pm
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Rodney Dickens explores why our productivity growth is falling, with a special look at migration flows and the new bank capital requirements
Rodney Dickens says the stirring of wage inflation worldwide signals official interest rates will need to be higher than many expect, which in turn will cause extreme turmoil in financial markets
27th Feb 19, 5:00am
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Rodney Dickens says the stirring of wage inflation worldwide signals official interest rates will need to be higher than many expect, which in turn will cause extreme turmoil in financial markets
Rodney Dickens says there are still issues with new migration numbers even after some major revisions
16th Feb 19, 10:02am
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Rodney Dickens says there are still issues with new migration numbers even after some major revisions
Rodney Dickens thinks Statistics NZ has botched the new migration numbers. He doubts huge numbers of people gave inaccurate data in the old system, but that is what the new system implies. Prepare for large revisions
26th Jan 19, 10:46am
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Rodney Dickens thinks Statistics NZ has botched the new migration numbers. He doubts huge numbers of people gave inaccurate data in the old system, but that is what the new system implies. Prepare for large revisions
Rodney Dickens thinks he spots a bust about to unfold in the manuka honey market after a strong boom - caused but the usual suspect, fast rising new supply
15th Dec 18, 10:09am
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Rodney Dickens thinks he spots a bust about to unfold in the manuka honey market after a strong boom - caused but the usual suspect, fast rising new supply
Rodney Dickens challenges Barfoot's optimistic judgment saying the Auckland market is weaker than average, and that the demand-supply balance doesn't justify much if any upside in prices
13th Dec 18, 3:35pm
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Rodney Dickens challenges Barfoot's optimistic judgment saying the Auckland market is weaker than average, and that the demand-supply balance doesn't justify much if any upside in prices
Rodney Dickens finds the council-controlled subdivision process, the RMA and increasing infrastructure costs directly contribute to high section prices, and these processes give cover for gouging by developers
2nd Dec 18, 12:42pm
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Rodney Dickens finds the council-controlled subdivision process, the RMA and increasing infrastructure costs directly contribute to high section prices, and these processes give cover for gouging by developers
Rodney Dickens says the real problem inhibiting affordable housing is the cost of sections, and that is the one key thing the Government can do to solve the affordability problem
17th Nov 18, 2:43pm
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Rodney Dickens says the real problem inhibiting affordable housing is the cost of sections, and that is the one key thing the Government can do to solve the affordability problem
Rodney Dickens says warning bells are starting to ring over the level of new tourism and hotel building. The risk is for a substantial overshoot
17th Oct 18, 10:25am
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Rodney Dickens says warning bells are starting to ring over the level of new tourism and hotel building. The risk is for a substantial overshoot
Rodney Dickens doesn't like the RBNZ policy settings, arguing they will lead to disaster. But he does see an opportunity for borrowers
28th Sep 18, 8:25am
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Rodney Dickens doesn't like the RBNZ policy settings, arguing they will lead to disaster. But he does see an opportunity for borrowers
Rodney Dickens criticises Auckland Council's economists, claiming their desire for higher density housing near rapid transport routes taints their analysis
28th Aug 18, 7:16am
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Rodney Dickens criticises Auckland Council's economists, claiming their desire for higher density housing near rapid transport routes taints their analysis
Rodney Dickens says be wary of MBIE's National Construction Pipeline reports, especially their estimates of future residential construction
5th Aug 18, 7:33am
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Rodney Dickens says be wary of MBIE's National Construction Pipeline reports, especially their estimates of future residential construction
Rodney Dickens checks how reliable economic forecasters' employment growth predictions are and how useful the leading indicators of employment are
5th Jul 18, 5:00am
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Rodney Dickens checks how reliable economic forecasters' employment growth predictions are and how useful the leading indicators of employment are