Category Archives: Growth & Innovation

Why Economists Dont Understand Education … but Still Try to Run It

This entry was posted in Education, Governance, Growth & Innovation on 24th August 2002 by Brian Easton.

Presentation to the NZARE conference ‘The Politics of Teacher’s Work in Aotearoa/New Zealand’, 24 August, 2002..

Keywords: Education, Governance, Growth and Innovation

Of course all economists know something anecdotally about education, insofar as they, their children and their friends went through an education system. My concern in this presentation is the deep tension between the paradigm economists practise and the paradigm educationalists practise. Indeed, an alternative title for today’s lecture might be that educationalists dont understand economics either. But being an economist I am not competent to give an account from an educationalist’s perspective. That I leave to the audience.

Productivity and Employment: NZ’s Post-war Economic Growth Performance

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Labour Studies on 18th August 2002 by Brian Easton.

Note: This paper has been replaced by a more recent version based on a more comprensive data base. Go here for the most recent version

Keywords: Growth & Innovation, Labour Studies

Introduction

It is not always wise to promise an empirically based paper before the research has been done. When preparing New Zealand’s Post-War Growth Performance: Comparison with the OECD[1], I observed that the Maddison data base on which the OECD data derived also had some statistics of employment and hours worked, which allowed it to provide some estimates of productivity.[2] New Zealand was not included, but since there was comparable data for New Zealand, I thought, it would be straight forward to include New Zealand in the data base. Hence the promise to produce this paper.

The Comparison with Australia: NZ’s Post-war Economic Growth Performance

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation on 13th August 2002 by Brian Easton.

This is the second of a series of papers. The first has a secondary title of ‘Comparison with the OECD’ and the third is Productivity and Employment

Keywords: Growth & Innovation

The most obvious country to compare New Zealand with is Australia. How did they do in the relative GDP per capita stakes? This report does not go through the details of data preparation, which are exactly the same as reported in the Comparison with OECD paper.(1) The Australian series is that reported in Maddison, adjusted to a March year basis. (2) The accompanying table and graph show the ratios of New Zealand GDP per capita to that of Australia, and for Australia to the OECD, and New Zealand to the OECD.

New Zealand’s Post-war Economic Growth Performance: Comparison with the OECD

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation on 8th August 2002 by Brian Easton.

Note: This is the first of a series of papers. The next two planned have secondary titles of ‘Comparison with Australia’ and ‘Productivity and Employment’

Keywords: Growth & Innovation

In Stormy Seas: The Post-War New Zealand Economy still contains the most extensive account of New Zealand’s post-war economic performance, despite being published some five years ago.(1) Since then the OECD has published a new data base. This note updates In Stormy Seas using that data base. It does not identify any new insights, confirming that the book’s analysis is reasonably robust to the data base, although it suggests the possibility of a slightly different account of the early 1970s. The paper concludes with some assessment of New Zealand’s economic prospects.

Innovation and Growth in Nelson

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation on 26th June 2002 by Brian Easton.

Presentation to Commerce Nelson’s ‘Innovation Forum 2002′, 26 June.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation

It is indicative of the mood of the country that I have been attending more regional economic seminars in the last year or so, than I did in all of the 1990s. It probably represents both the government encouraging regions to develop themselves, and a sign of growing confidence in the overall economic direction. …

Science and Nationbuilding

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Political Economy & History on 1st May 2002 by Brian Easton.

Revised paper presented to the Rotorua Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 1 May 2002

Keywords Growth & Innovation; Political Economy & History

The Nationbuilders is a book about the economic social and cultural development of New Zealand from 1932 to 1984 when a group of visionary New Zealanders developed the nation. The story is told through a set of biographical essays, but while some have read the chapters separately for the individual stories, in fact the book has a series of themes, which the lives illustrate.

They’re Thinking Big Again: What Is Wrong with Too Much Foreign Investment?

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener on 23rd March 2002 by Brian Easton.

Listener 23 March 2002

Keywords Business & Finance; Growth & Innovation

When you choose a target, make sure it cannot distort your real objectives. Consider the man desperate to diet, who decided at New Years not to eat between meals. He kept strictly to his resolution. By the end of February he was eating his May 23rd dinner.

Canterbury and Globalisation

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation on 13th March 2002 by Brian Easton.

Overheads for Environment Canterbury Seminar 13 March 2002

Keywords: Growth & Innovation

Of Roast Pork: Treasury Debates the Economy

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener on 9th March 2002 by Brian Easton.

Listener 9 March, 2002.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation;

Just before Christmas the Treasury released seven papers on the ‘economic transformation’, the government’s term for where it wants the economy to go. The papers are individually authored, and do not represent the Treasury view. Indeed the Treasury has not yet got one. …

Auckland in a Globalised World

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation on 18th September 2001 by Brian Easton.

Presentation to the Sustainable Auckland Congress, 18-21 September 2001, published in The Proceedings of the Sustainable Auckland Congress. (Edited by M. Daly, B. Hill, L. Lucas, J. Salinger, & P. Spoonley, and published by the Sustainable Auckland Trust.)

Keywords Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation

I want to begin with affirming one element of my basic framework. The dominant single feature of New Zealand over the last two centuries has been its ongoing interaction with the rest of the world. Unless one understands that principle, New Zealand’s history makes no sense. Unless one uses the principle one can neither understand the future, nor meet its challenge. Insulationist policies – either practically or indirectly by ignoring the principle are bound to fail.

The Knowledge Ripple: Where Were the Academics?

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener on 1st September 2001 by Brian Easton.

Listener 1 September, 2001

Keywords: Growth & Innovation

The 1928 National Industrial Conference was the first of a long line of national conferences to address the economic problems of the day. Initiated by Prime Minister Gordon Coates, the 64 delegates included the businessmen, representatives of commercial groups, unionists and civil servants of the day. ….

Global Players: The Secret Of Some New Zealand Businesses’ Success.

This entry was posted in Business & Finance, Growth & Innovation, Listener on 4th August 2001 by Brian Easton.

Listener 4 August 2001

Keywords Business & Finance; Growth & Innovation

Despite being used as a text book in some business schools in the 1990s, Theory K: The Key to Excellence in New Zealand Management was always a bit of a joke, for the crash of October 1987 put an end to some of its best examples of ‘excellent’ New Zealand businesses. The book devotes most space to Equiticorp (although a number of other did-not-survives were also praised). One is left wondering how a firm founded only two years before the book was published could be given such prominence. (You will find part of the answer in Ollie Newman’s “Lost Property”, which explains how public relations had a key role in gulling the investor public. )

Green Light: How Ireland Went from Bust to Boom.

This entry was posted in Globalisation & Trade, Growth & Innovation, Listener on 21st July 2001 by Brian Easton.

Listener 21 July, 2001.

Keywords Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation

In 1987 the Irish decided that their economy needed a new direction. Rather than policy being seized by a small group of extremists, there was a national consensus for change, including from the parliamentary opposition.

Twenty to Ten: the Emptiness Of the Latest Economic Slogan.

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener on 7th July 2001 by Brian Easton.

Listener 7 July, 2001.

Keywords Growth & Innovation

Chatham House rules applied, so I can only tell you there was considerable derision in a meeting of top economists when the slogan of New Zealand aiming to be tenth in the OECD was mentioned. Many such slogans float around our public debate, driven by dogma and lobbying interests. But this one has a quantifiable meaning so it can be assessed. The point of the following is not to overwhelm you with statistics – ignore them if you like – but to try to persuade you that economics can be about analysis rather than meaningless ideological slogans.

The London Economist and the New Zealand Economy

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Macroeconomics & Money, Political Economy & History on 9th December 2000 by Brian Easton.

A response to an Economist article of 30 November 2000.

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money; Political Economy & History;

A summary of The Economist’s position of the New Zealand economic reforms might be:

New Zealand had to change its economic policies from at least the early 1980s. The path of the reforms was riddled with ‘blunders’ and ‘hubris’. The Economist enthusiastically supported them at the time, despite warnings of the weaknesses that the microeconomic reforms were extremist and the macroeconomic reforms faulty. The outcome has been a much poorer performance than other countries – such as Australia – which tackled the same problems with a more thoughtful, incremental and technically competent approach. This conclusion applies even ignoring the rising inequality and the social distress. Nevertheless, The Economist thinks New Zealand should continue to pursue the policies which have failed in the past. Victory is about implementing ‘right’ policies, not getting better outcomes.

Changing Policy Horses

This entry was posted in Growth & Innovation, Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on 14th October 2000 by Brian Easton.

Should the Economic Reforms be Intensified or are New Policies in Order?
Listener 14 October, 2000

Keywords: Growth & Innovation; Macroeconomics & Money;

There is a debate going on about what to do about the economy. The loudest view is that it is the fault of the new government, and that we only have to return to the policies of the last fifteen years and everything will come right. There are three reasons why this is not very compelling. First, the Labour-Alliance government does not seem to have changed policy that much. Second, the ‘collapse’ began in early 1999 or even 1998, well before the new government took power. And third, over the fifteen years the performance of the New Zealand economy has been the worse in the rich OECD, inflation excepted. So the past policies have failed, and are unlikely to succeed in the future.