If New Zealand were anywhere other than right next to Australia, our current rates of economic growth, unemployment and proximity to developing global markets would be the envy of the world.

As it is, comparisons with Australia are not always useful. But there is one developed country whose problems closely resemble ours, that is worthy of comparison: Canada.

A recent Knowledge@Wharton note from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has a rich description of the Canadian economy and the challenges facing it. The parallels with New Zealand are remarkable.

Called a ‘hewer of wood and drawer of water’, Canada is as reliant on its natural resources and primary exports industry as New Zealand. Indeed, the success of Canada’s primary exports industry, combined with prudent government debt levels, has pushed the Canadian dollar to historically high levels, raising fears of the so called Dutch disease – where the success of export commodities pushes up the currency and squeezes the rest of the export sector.

Canada’s exports as a share of GDP have dropped from 45% to 30% since 2000, and its traditional primary exports comprise two-thirds of that figure.

Meanwhile, productivity in Canada continues to be poor, and private sector R&D lags like in New Zealand. The consensus is that neither tax cuts nor government support (i.e. more cash) will help the situation: Canadians simply aren’t innovating enough.

Another common problem is the lack of international brands. The number of global corporate brands held by Canadians has been steadily decreasing. (Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerrys, used to be cited as a great example of a global Canadian brand – who is buying BlackBerrys now?)

Also in common is Canada’s ageing and insufficient infrastructure. Canada has intra-regulatory issues in trade and capital flows between provinces, and external trade and regulatory issues with its larger neighbour – the United States. Trans-Tasman regulatory barriers, such as the lack of mutual recognition of franking and imputation credits, play a similar role for us with Australia.

New Zealand and Canada have much to learn from each other. It will be worthwhile watching how Canada deals with its challenges.