Terence Wood
@terencewoodnz.bsky.social
Fellow at the Development Policy Centre. Aid, political economy, Melanesian politics. My writing at: https://devpolicy.org/author/terencewood/
Globally, an increasing share of people say they feel safer walking at home at night, though it varies from country to country obviously, and is gendered too.
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
September 23, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Globally, an increasing share of people say they feel safer walking at home at night, though it varies from country to country obviously, and is gendered too.
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
A blast from the past. What Australia thought about the Pacific during the Old Cold War (1987): nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3381...
September 15, 2025 at 10:35 PM
A blast from the past. What Australia thought about the Pacific during the Old Cold War (1987): nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3381...
From a Solomon Islands Facebook group. When giving aid for infrastructure, ask yourself: will it be maintained.
May 12, 2025 at 8:34 AM
From a Solomon Islands Facebook group. When giving aid for infrastructure, ask yourself: will it be maintained.
Mt Victoria at dawn. Higher than Mt Cook. Already sweltering in Port Moresby, but will be close to freezing up there. It would take a 3 day hike along the Kokoda trail to get to its base, then an even harder climb. Still, it's hard not to look and daydream up plans.
April 30, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Mt Victoria at dawn. Higher than Mt Cook. Already sweltering in Port Moresby, but will be close to freezing up there. It would take a 3 day hike along the Kokoda trail to get to its base, then an even harder climb. Still, it's hard not to look and daydream up plans.
The Port Moresby dawn catching the clouds above the Owen Stanley range.
April 28, 2025 at 3:50 AM
The Port Moresby dawn catching the clouds above the Owen Stanley range.
And one final chart on this. Here's how Pacific countries (in red) compare to other aid eligible countries. Fiji gets it bad, even by global standards.
April 7, 2025 at 4:06 AM
And one final chart on this. Here's how Pacific countries (in red) compare to other aid eligible countries. Fiji gets it bad, even by global standards.
Exports to US as % of total exports. Fiji's in the worst place, but wouldn't be great to be in the Marshalls to Nauru curve either. Data missing for PNG. (3/4)
April 4, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Exports to US as % of total exports. Fiji's in the worst place, but wouldn't be great to be in the Marshalls to Nauru curve either. Data missing for PNG. (3/4)
Exports to the US as % of GDP v the the size of the new Tariffs. Fiji's clearly the worst hit. (2/4)
April 4, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Exports to the US as % of GDP v the the size of the new Tariffs. Fiji's clearly the worst hit. (2/4)
Who will Trump's tariffs hurt the most in the Pacific @freerangestats.info @ryanbedwards.bsky.social
Tariffs by country. No idea how Palau and Niue snuck under the radar while Tokelau didn't. (1/4)
Tariffs by country. No idea how Palau and Niue snuck under the radar while Tokelau didn't. (1/4)
April 4, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Who will Trump's tariffs hurt the most in the Pacific @freerangestats.info @ryanbedwards.bsky.social
Tariffs by country. No idea how Palau and Niue snuck under the radar while Tokelau didn't. (1/4)
Tariffs by country. No idea how Palau and Niue snuck under the radar while Tokelau didn't. (1/4)
Note to self: from the 2024/25 New Zealand budget. By way of comparison aid is about 1 billion NZD. (see chart on page 11: www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/defaul...)
March 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Note to self: from the 2024/25 New Zealand budget. By way of comparison aid is about 1 billion NZD. (see chart on page 11: www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/defaul...)
On Devpolicy Bob McMullan, former Austrlian Labor Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance writes powerfully about the cruelty of the Trump regime's aid cuts. A powerful post. devpolicy.org/the-casual-c... @amitam.bsky.social
March 2, 2025 at 8:00 PM
On Devpolicy Bob McMullan, former Austrlian Labor Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance writes powerfully about the cruelty of the Trump regime's aid cuts. A powerful post. devpolicy.org/the-casual-c... @amitam.bsky.social
Eliot Weinberger has an time-to-move-to-another-planet essay on the incoming Trump administration in @londonreview.bsky.social. The clipping below comes from it. Hard not to wonder how much of that Trump merch is made in China: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
January 17, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Eliot Weinberger has an time-to-move-to-another-planet essay on the incoming Trump administration in @londonreview.bsky.social. The clipping below comes from it. Hard not to wonder how much of that Trump merch is made in China: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
The resource curse, guns, the legacy of a violent election and clan conflict. Things aren't going well in Papua New Guinea's Enga province at present: www.benarnews.org/english/news...
January 15, 2025 at 2:31 AM
The resource curse, guns, the legacy of a violent election and clan conflict. Things aren't going well in Papua New Guinea's Enga province at present: www.benarnews.org/english/news...
Dawn painted over the tussock and on the western clouds, the mountain hut where we spent the night in the foreground. A long hike in and out, but worth it.
December 31, 2024 at 2:33 AM
Dawn painted over the tussock and on the western clouds, the mountain hut where we spent the night in the foreground. A long hike in and out, but worth it.
For those interested in Pacific Politics, I've updated my Solomon Islands election results website. Download the results of all general elections in Solomon Islands between 1967 & 2014, plus many other resources: solomonselections.org
December 19, 2024 at 4:18 AM
For those interested in Pacific Politics, I've updated my Solomon Islands election results website. Download the results of all general elections in Solomon Islands between 1967 & 2014, plus many other resources: solomonselections.org
This was an excellent presentation at ##AAC2024 last week. Jack Hennessy on a discrete choice experiment on public preferences regarding aid for health. Slides here: devpolicy.org/2024-Austral... @amitam.bsky.social
December 10, 2024 at 9:17 PM
This was an excellent presentation at ##AAC2024 last week. Jack Hennessy on a discrete choice experiment on public preferences regarding aid for health. Slides here: devpolicy.org/2024-Austral... @amitam.bsky.social
Many great presentations at #AAC2024 last week. Cam Hill's on #aid and #statecraft in the Pacific was an excellent example. See the slides here: devpolicy.org/2024-Austral.... Discussion paper to follow! @amitam.bsky.social
December 10, 2024 at 9:13 PM
Many great presentations at #AAC2024 last week. Cam Hill's on #aid and #statecraft in the Pacific was an excellent example. See the slides here: devpolicy.org/2024-Austral.... Discussion paper to follow! @amitam.bsky.social
A nice comment on war from Robert Walpole in @londonreview.bsky.social www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
November 27, 2024 at 6:55 PM
A nice comment on war from Robert Walpole in @londonreview.bsky.social www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
And, the relationship between tax and life expectancy exists even when you take GDP per capita into account (the p-value is just over 0.05, which is good considering how small the sample is).(5/6)
November 26, 2024 at 7:39 AM
And, the relationship between tax and life expectancy exists even when you take GDP per capita into account (the p-value is just over 0.05, which is good considering how small the sample is).(5/6)
Which in itself is doesn't fit comfortably with the narrative that taxation beggars nations. (4/6)
November 26, 2024 at 7:39 AM
Which in itself is doesn't fit comfortably with the narrative that taxation beggars nations. (4/6)
But perhaps the relationship is spurious: richer countries tax more, and affluence brings life expectancy? It's true that more affluent countries collect more tax as a share of GDP. (3/6)
November 26, 2024 at 7:39 AM
But perhaps the relationship is spurious: richer countries tax more, and affluence brings life expectancy? It's true that more affluent countries collect more tax as a share of GDP. (3/6)
And would it be a bad thing if tax/GDP was higher? Tax/GDP is positively correlated with higher life expectancy (caveat lector - this just a bivariate correlation but it seems suggestive). 2/6
November 26, 2024 at 7:39 AM
And would it be a bad thing if tax/GDP was higher? Tax/GDP is positively correlated with higher life expectancy (caveat lector - this just a bivariate correlation but it seems suggestive). 2/6
People say tax is too high in New Zealand. But... (1/6)
We're almost bang on OECD averages in terms of tax/GDP.
We're almost bang on OECD averages in terms of tax/GDP.
November 26, 2024 at 7:39 AM
People say tax is too high in New Zealand. But... (1/6)
We're almost bang on OECD averages in terms of tax/GDP.
We're almost bang on OECD averages in terms of tax/GDP.
The government keeps saying we can't "tax our way out of a recession" in NZ. But, strictly speaking we're not in a recession, at least by conventional definitions. We've had an inflation problem. Not the same: www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/g...
November 25, 2024 at 1:47 AM
The government keeps saying we can't "tax our way out of a recession" in NZ. But, strictly speaking we're not in a recession, at least by conventional definitions. We've had an inflation problem. Not the same: www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/g...
This from the Wall Street Journal via Adam Tooze. www.wsj.com/economy/jobs.... If they really gutted government my bet is Americans would not be happy.
November 18, 2024 at 5:55 PM
This from the Wall Street Journal via Adam Tooze. www.wsj.com/economy/jobs.... If they really gutted government my bet is Americans would not be happy.