There is nothing like a Kiwi summer to make you proud to be a New Zealander - from our pristine beaches, to our acres of green pastures, to the great sense of community that naturally forms in holiday parks and campgrounds across the country.

There is something special about this land and its people that many of us feel is worth preserving.

Perhaps piggybacking off this peak-patriotism period, the Labour Party and New Zealand First have once again attempted to fuel public outrage about foreign investment.

Making the link between foreign investment and patriotism isn’t hard. After all, there are many who believe it is part of our social fabric to be able to buy land in our own country.

They worry that rich foreign buyers will always be able to outbid them, and their kids, for that first house. And following on from this, that while New Zealanders value our land more than foreigners do, New Zealanders simply cannot compete with foreign buyers.

Now, the economic case for foreign investment has been well established by The New Zealand Initiative, along with other reputable commentators domestically and internationally. Foreign investment enhances our global competitiveness by bringing foreign capital, technologies, management expertise, and access to overseas markets.

This case needs to be repeated, and often, for fear of being drowned out by overly emotional or xenophobic arguments to the contrary.

Yet there are some who will consistently resist these economic arguments, no matter how well-evidenced and compelling. They retort that New Zealanders have never been all about profits and numbers, that there are some things in life we cannot put a price on.

It is true, life isn’t all about graphs, balance-sheets and confusing economic jargon. So let’s leave these important considerations aside for the moment –and they are important – and focus on what this boils down to: what kind of New Zealand do we want for ourselves, our kids, and our grand kids?

Restricting foreign ownership involves telling people what they can and can’t do with their private property. It involves the public deciding what private sellers do with their own land, resulting in sellers being forced to accept a lower bid for their land than they otherwise would have.

This strikes at the very heart of property rights. Property rights are the basic and exclusive rights of individuals to the possession, control, sale and enjoyment of the things they own. The corollary of this, of course, is the right not to sell.

Just because we enjoy and value something, is it really right to force others to provide it, especially when we have contributed nothing ourselves? After all, it would be absurd to expect a neighbour to upkeep a perfectly manicured garden, simply because you enjoy looking at it, but are not willing to pay them for the pleasure.

Land ownership may be part of our social fabric, but so is the protection and enforcement of private property rights. To adopt such a nonchalant attitude towards property rights is to trample on the key foundation of New Zealand’s liberal democracy.

For those worried that New Zealanders simply cannot compete with foreign buyers, the answer is not to ban foreign investment. What we need is to lift our economic game, and ensure we are competitive on a global scale. If we are being outbid by foreign buyers, this is a symptom of much greater economic challenges ahead.

Globalisation of the labour force and international trade means we cannot afford to be inward looking. Rather than simply throwing our hands up in defeat and banning foreign ownership, we need to be looking at how we can increase economic growth to ensure we are internationally competitive. To put it simply, policies on foreign ownership shouldn’t be centred around “we want this, and therefore we must ban everyone who gets in our way”, it should be around “we want this, we need to be looking at how we can afford to do it”.

Without sustained economic growth, we won’t just have to worry about future generations priced out of their own land. Economic growth can provide greater educational resources and opportunities. It can ensure New Zealanders have competitive skills in the international job market. Economic growth makes those holiday trips, both around the country and overseas possible, as well as the quintessential Kiwi experience of going on an OE. Economic growth even enhances our preparedness for disasters, both natural and manmade.

It is easy to say that New Zealanders stand for more than just cheap money and big profits. That not everything can – or should – be viewed through an economic lens.

But it’s much harder to argue that New Zealanders don’t care about private property rights, living in a liberal democracy, or that we don’t think much of all the benefits economic growth brings.