Haiku

Motu uses haiku to summarise our research in a pithy, plain English manner. "Haiku" is a traditional form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have five syllables and the middle line has seven syllables. This tradition was started by Andrew Coleman, an ex-Senior Fellow at Motu.

Below are some of our favourites with links to the papers they were written for.

Berlin’s wall crumbled
We taxed savings, not houses
Locking out the young.

Being a mother
means decreased hours and wages.
No such change for dads.

Beams of light and warmth
Make a house desirable,
and we value them.

Tax data changes.
Experience tree bears fruit.
Measurement improves. 

Pacific migrants:
high employment, low pay rates,
trapped by poor English.

People like to be
dry and sunny, by the sea,
but firms like cities.

Falling in love with
one as educated boosts
inequality.

All have human rights.
But to reach their fulfilment
We need measurement.

Postgrad allowance
removed. Students borrow more.
Not much else changes.

Ninety day trial.
Controversial policy,
with little impact.

Buildings declared prone
to fall in quakes, fall in price*.
* Conditions apply.

Clean water is good
Does it reduce climate change?
Alas, not that much.

Women are paid less,
but aren’t less valuable.
We blame sexism.

When people migrate
women become happier
men become richer.

When we understand
admin data has errors,
surveys don't look bad.

Ruminating on
methane. Land use will change and
someone's gotta pay.

Inequality
is reduced by aging of
our population.

Productivity
has risen. Thank entry and
reallocation.

Surveys have errors.
Tax data errors are rare,
but they still matter.

Universities
bring extra population
and more employment.

Linking is risky.
We could not control our price.
Stable signals please.

How should we predict
wellbeing? Use consumption
rather than income.

The science is clear.
When debating emissions
consider your goals.

Quake! Drop, cover, hold.
Then employees recover
and subsidy helps.

Farmers change slowly.
Avoid pain with clear signals,
research, replace cows.

It's hard to see
where intangibles take you.
Happy customers?