Data Analytics | Chuck Muizers

Join us this week on the New Zealand Initiative podcast! Our host, Dr Eric Crampton chats with Professor Rhema Vaithianathan from Auckland University of Technology. Rhema gives us a peek into her pioneering work on data-tools, designed with a human touch to better serve communities.

In this fascinating chat, they delve into Rhema's trailblazing project, the Allegheny Family Screening Tool. This unique decision-aid tool is a global first, introduced in 2016 to support child welfare hotline screening. The duo also touch on the equally impressive Allegheny Housing Assessment tool, another innovative machine-learning tool used since 2020 for prioritising housing within the homelessness system.

Rhema reveals the power of predictive risk modelling in the US child protection system, where her team used administrative data to help improve outcomes for children. Listen to how this model uses past case data to guide operators in their decisions regarding potential abuse cases.

In the US, this approach worked to substantially reduce child hospitalisation. It could be done in New Zealand as well. In fact, the work started here. But New Zealand’s politics and public service has a very difficult time with new approaches. American localism means that one innovative county can try it out, and demonstrate the benefits to others.

All this and more in our enlightening podcast. Stay tuned for Part Two, where the conversation on AI and predictive models in child protection systems, and on encouraging public sector innovation more broadly, continues!

Podcast: Data analytics for social impact (part one)

ข้อมูลของเรา เวลามีขนาดไม่เยอะ ใช้เครื่องมือธรรมดาอย่าง spreadsheet ก็น่าจะเพียงพอแล้ว แต่เวลาข้อมูลมีขนาดใหญ่ มันก็จะไม่ง่ายอย่างนั้น วันนี้คุณไอซ์ วรุฒ กฤษรุ่งเรือง Senior Data Engineer จากบริษัท Data Wow จะมาเล่าให้ฟัง ตั้งแต่ต้นทาง ไปจนถึงปลายทาง Data Pipeline ทำอย่างไร ยากไหม ติดตามได้ในตอนนี้
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คำถาม
1. Data Pipeline คืออะไร แล้วมันมีประโยชน์อย่างไรครับ
2. อะไรเป็นองค์ประกอบของ Data Pipeline แล้วแต่ละส่วนมันเชื่อมโยงกันอย่างไร
3. อะไรเป็นความท้าทายเวลาเราต้องสร้าง หรือ Maintain Data Pipeline ครับ
4. ระหว่าง Batch Processing กับ Real-Time/ Streaming Data Pipeline เราเลือกใช้อย่างไร
5. คำว่า Data Pipeline คือการเอาข้อมูลมายัดใส่พวกตระกูล BigQuery หรือ RedShift หรือเปล่า
6. มีเคสที่ Data Pipeline มีบทบาทสำคัญกับธุรกิจมาเล่าให้ฟังไหม
7. อะไรเป็น Technology ที่น่าสนใจและต้องจับตามองสำหรับการทำ Data Pipeline
8. ถ้าวันนี้เราจัดการกับข้อมูลจำนวนหนึ่ง แล้วในอนาคตข้อมูลเยอะขึ้นมากๆ เราจะจัดการหรือเตรียมความพร้อมกับ Data Pipeline ได้อย่างไร
9. เราสามารถทดสอบได้ไหม ว่า Data Pipeline เราทำงานได้อย่างถูกต้อง
10. Data Pipeline มีผลกับการทำ Machine Learning หรือ Data Analytics ไหม
11. มีข้อแนะนำให้คนฟัง เวลาที่คิดจะสร้าง Data Pipeline ควรจะต้องคิดถึงเรื่องอะไรบ้างไหม

Data Pipeline ศิลปะของการจัดการข้อมูล กับคุณวรุฒ กฤษรุ่งเรือง | Tech Monday EP.139

In this episode, Oliver talks to Professor Barbara Oakley about her six-month stint as a visiting senior fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, marking her farewell to her time here in New Zealand. 

Reflecting on her work here, Barbara shares insights into education, discussing the challenges of student-centred learning, her work with the Initiative, and the video project she's created with Michael Johnston to help transform teaching approaches.

A fresh perspective on learning: Barbara Oakley's NZ odyssey

In this episode, Oliver Hartwich talks to Michael Johnston about the government’s proposal to replace New Zealand’s National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) after more than two decades. 

They discuss how the current system, with its fragmented assessments and focus on collecting credits, has weakened learning. Michael explains how the proposed changes aim to create a clear, curriculum‑aligned qualification framework and open better pathways for both academic and vocational students.

Calling time on NCEA

In this episode, Oliver talks to Adelle Keely, Chief Executive of Acumen, about the Initiative's delegation to the Netherlands. 

They explore the country's remarkable approach to challenges, uncovering how Dutch culture of collaboration, technological innovation, and pragmatic problem-solving offers profound insights for New Zealand's future development and national thinking.

Going Dutch: Lessons from the Netherlands

In this episode, Eric talks to Ben Hamlin, Barrister at Clifton Chambers, about new Commerce Commission guidelines on occupational regulation and how professional licencing systems can restrict competition and increase prices for consumers. They discuss how government-created licencing boards often operate like cartels by limiting who can enter professions, and how the Commission's new guidance aims to prevent these anti-competitive practices.

Related links:

• Cabinet Office Circular  CO (99) 6: Policy framework for occupational regulation. - https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-99-6-policy-framework-occupational-regulation
• Commerce Commission. 2025. Occupational regulation guidelines. - https://comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0032/367556/Occupational-Regulations-Guidelines-July-2025.pdf

How professional licencing restricts competition


In this episode, Benno Blaschke talks to Oliver Hartwich about the recent Trump-Putin meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, where Trump appeared to abandon the Western position of seeking a ceasefire first in favour of Putin's demand for an immediate "peace deal" that would cement Russian territorial gains. 

They discuss the troubling implications of Trump applauding Putin on arrival, the bizarre shared ride in the presidential limousine, and how this summit signals a dangerous shift from rules-based international order to great power politics that could embolden other territorial aggressors, particularly China.

How Trump lost ground to Putin in Anchorage

In this episode, Oliver talks to James Keirstead about his latest research report "Amazing Grades" which provides the first systematic analysis of grade inflation across all New Zealand universities. 

They discuss how A-grades have increased by 13 percentage points over two decades, reaching 35% of all grades awarded, and explore potential solutions including statistical moderation systems and national examinations to restore meaningful academic standards.

You can read Dr Kierstead's report "Amazing Grades: Grade Inflation at New Zealand Universities" here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/amazing-grades-grade-inflation-at-new-zealand-universities/

Why getting an A at university is so easy now

In this episode, Oliver talks to Eric Crampton and Benno Blaschke about the New Zealand government’s supermarket competition reforms, which closely reflect The New Zealand Initiative’s policy framework—a major policy win that saw their research inform the Minister of Finance’s approach. 

They explain how their practical policy document shifted government thinking away from heavy-handed breakups and toward tackling the real structural barriers in planning and regulation.

Breaking down barriers not breaking up supermarkets

In this episode, Oliver talks to Roger Partridge about his new report "Unscrambling Government," which proposes consolidating New Zealand's extraordinarily complex government structure from 81 ministerial portfolios, 28 ministers, and 43 departments down to a more manageable 15-20 portfolios with corresponding departmental consolidation. 

They discuss how New Zealand's fragmented ministerial system creates accountability problems, increases fiscal costs, and hampers effective decision-making on critical issues like housing affordability, comparing unfavourably to other small advanced economies that operate with far simpler structures.

Read the report here: https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/unscrambling-government-less-confusion-more-efficiency/

Unscrambling Government: Less confusion, more efficiency

In this episode, Oliver talks to Stephen Crosswell, a partner at Baker and McKenzie in Hong Kong, the world’s strongest law firm brand. He is chair of the firm’s Asia-Pacific Antitrust & Competition Group and one of Hong Kong’s leading trial lawyers, admitted to practise in five countries. Stephen has seen first-hand how law shapes innovation, and he joins Oliver to explore what history, from Roman law to Adam Smith and the Industrial Revolution, can reveal about the forces driving change today.

Their conversation centres on Stephen’s paper "The Common Law and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations", which asks whether the legal system we have makes a difference to whether our societies can innovate, prosper, and deliver material improvements to our quality of life. They consider why common law’s flexibility may provide a stronger foundation than sweeping regulation for addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence and digital platforms.

What Adam Smith can teach us about regulating technology

In this episode, Eric and Nick talk to Michael Keen, a former Deputy Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department and co-author of "Rebellion, Rascals and Revenue", about the many ways taxation can go wrong throughout history. 

They explore bizarre historical taxes like Britain's window tax and ship taxation, discuss New Zealand's exemplary GST system, and examine how poor tax design can lead to smuggling, rebellions, and unintended economic distortions.

When tax policy goes wrong

Only You - gin$eng

In April 2019, the Harvard Business School Digital Initiative brought together academics and practitioners for an idea exchange around technology in a multidisciplinary world. This Future Assembly flash talk features Ayelet Israeli from Harvard Business School discussing "The added value of data analytics: evidence from online retailers." To learn more, check out digital.hbs.edu.

Transcript: https://hbs.me/3bQ28EG

Ayelet Israeli on the added value of data analytics | Future Assembly 2019

Chuck Muizers is a Chief Operating Officer based in The Woodlands, Texas. Chuck has almost thirty years of experience in the National Security sector. This includes fifteen years of experience spent at the executive level in public and privately held companies. Currently, Mr. Muizers is occupied with several business ventures, including the COO of Skylla Engineering, CEO of ND2 Inc, and founding member of ExpFx LLC.

Podcast: Data analytics for social impact (part one)

The New Zealand Initiative

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