Webinar: Twin Deficits: Can New Zealand grow its way out of debt?
New Zealanders work long hours, yet Australians earn roughly 30% more per head. That's a missing $20,000 for every New Zealander, or around $100 billion a year across the economy. An Australian worker produces in 39 minutes what takes a New Zealander an hour.
Meanwhile, government spends more than half of the country’s income. Even the Auditor-General cannot say what $180 billion in annual spending achieves, and public debt keeps climbing.
In his new research, Senior Research Fellow Dr Bryce Wilkinson argues these twin problems share a solution: a relentless focus on value for money across what government spends, owns and regulates. He also shows why the evidence gives grounds for optimism rather than despair.
Join Executive Director Dr Oliver Hartwich next Tuesday as he talks to Bryce about where the gap came from, what the 1980s and 1990s reforms teach us, and what it would take to close it.
Stick around for the live Q&A and put your questions to Bryce directly.
Date: Tuesday, 3 November 2026
Time: 2:00-3.00 pm NZT
Registration: Please register here for the webinar (Can't make it live? If you register, we'll send you the recording after the event.)
Q&A: Submit your questions for Bryce in advance on Slido.com here using code #1778743
About the speakers:
Dr Bryce Wilkinson, ONZM, Senior Fellow, The New Zealand Initiative
Bryce is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative and the Director of the Wellington-based economic consultancy firm Capital Economics. Bryce holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Canterbury and was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University. He is a Fellow of the Law and Economics Association of New Zealand.
Dr Oliver Hartwich - Executive Director, The New Zealand Initiative
Oliver is the Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative. Before joining the Initiative, he was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange in London, and an advisor in the UK House of Lords. Oliver holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration and a PhD in Law from Bochum University in Germany.