Openness to the rest of the world through trade and capital is key to the prosperity of nations. Merchandise world trade has grown much faster than world GDP since 1980, but not as fast as global foreign direct investment (FDI). Read more
Teachers are our most important educational asset – the single biggest influence on student achievement in schools. Teaching must become a profession of status so that New Zealand can attract the best and brightest and keep them, and ensure that teachers are always improving their practice to lift student achievement. Read more
Teachers are New Zealand’s most important educational asset. This report is the second in a series of three, building on the first - World Class Education: Why New Zealand Must Strengthen Its Teaching Profession, which identified some of the main structural problems preventing New Zealand’s teaching workforce from developing further. Read more
It is well recognised that New Zealand has a housing supply problem. Amid a growing population, shrinking household size, and increasing migration flows, the number of new homes built over the last three decades has failed to keep up with real demand. Read more
Why is NZ shedding talented teachers? NZ has a high quality but unequal education system It fails too many Māori and Pasifika students, with wide gaps in performance Policies to attract, retain and develop talent are needed to tackle the problem This report, written by John Morris and Rose Patterson, identifies the critical junctures where teaching quality can be influenced, and the organisations that have the power to strengthen the teaching profession. Read more
A joint publication from The New Zealand Initiative and Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ). A Global Perspective on Localism discusses the question of if the developed world is looking to put more power in the hands of people at a local government level, why is New Zealand headed in the other direction? Read more
This report is a summary of fieldwork abroad on how different jurisdictions deal with their housing markets, and the interaction between regulation, local government and building. Key points Switzerland and Germany have remarkably stable prices compared to New Zealand, while Texas has had stable and low house prices for an extended period. Read more
Priced Out – How New Zealand Lost its Housing Affordability looks at long-term trends in housing regulation and social circumstances as well as the changing roles of local and central governments. The report reveals how and why New Zealand is suffering a shortfall of houses. Read more
New Zealand has depended on overseas trade and capital for its prosperity from colonial times. But prejudice against foreigners and foreign capital will always be with us. Read more
Key points As measured by the OECD's FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index and analysed by The New Zealand Initiative: New Zealand has the sixth most restrictive FDI regime in the world New Zealand has the most restrictive FDI regime in manufacturing New Zealand runs the third-most restrictive FDI regime in restaurants and hotels Almost all of New Zealand's restrictiveness comes from screening processes - bureaucrats and ministers assessing how 'good' an investment is going to be for New Zealand, despite their poor incentives and lack of commercial knowledge. Of the 55 countries the OECD measured for FDI restrictiveness, 35 do not even have screening tests In addition: The 'sensitive land' and 25% ownership clauses in the Overseas Investment Act catch virtually any reasonably sized direct overseas investment Over the past 15 years, many other nations have substantially liberalised their overseas investment regimes, leaving New Zealand in a less competitive position to attract FDI Since 1993, the amount of FDI New Zealand attracts has trended down by 2% per decade, although the relationship is suggestive rather than robust at this point All New Zealanders can be expected to bear the cost of these foreign investment barriers through lower property values, a higher cost of capital, and weaker economic growth. Read more
More ladders, fewer snakes proposes that accelerated roll-out of e-learning to low decile schools and improving the school-to-work transition will materially reduce youth unemployment and resulting social issues. Read more
Plugging the gap proposes 14 policy directions to improve the success of internationalising New Zealand businesses. Internationalisation performance improvement will accelerate growth in high value exports and lift prosperity. Read more
This is a revised version of the keynote address to the joint conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists and Law and Economics Association of New Zealand held in Auckland on 30 June 2010. The neoclassical ‘economist king’ has tumbled from his pedestal. Read more
Sir Ronald Trotter was the first chairman of the New Zealand Business Roundtable in its present form, a position he held from 1985 to 1990. Among his many other roles he has been chief executive and chairman of Fletcher Challenge Limited, chairman of the Steering Committee of the 1984 Economic Summit, a director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, chairman of the State-owned Enterprises Advisory Committee, chairman of Telecom Corporation, chairman of the National Interim Provider Board, a chairman or director of several major New Zealand and Australian companies, and chairman of the board of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Read more
A goal is not a strategy concludes that New Zealand needs to focus on the internationalisation of high value, differentiated export sectors, prioritise labour productivity improvement efforts on these sectors, and reallocate resources from low to high productivity sectors.
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