Author Archives: David Schnauer

Perhaps for many New Zealanders, the period of the March-April 2020 Covid-19 lockdown will not be remembered fondly. Shops all shuttered. Streets empty of cars. Just a few walkers getting their exercise (and keeping their distancing). Modern society as we know it, almost totally closed down. Much of New Zealand tuned into to TV1 atContinue reading “Chapter 1. COVID’S SILVER LINING”

CRISES FACILITATE MAJOR CHANGE It is a peculiar aspect of humans that we usually need a crisis to make real change. We all know of personal examples. The guy who for years drank too much. Then he had a major car accident, and hasn’t drunk since. Societies are unfortunately similar. When life within them isContinue reading “Chapter 2. SOME KEY ECONOMIC ISSUES”

Pretty much every modern economy has a two tiered banking system. There is inevitably a central bank which acts as the banker for the trading banks which operate in that economy. The central bank sets interest rates and significantly influences monetary conditions in its economy. The trading banks borrow funds (partly by taking deposits) andContinue reading “Chapter 3. BANKING – PLENTY TO THINK ABOUT”

I have already given you a preview that I assess New Zealanders’ love affair with housing to be perhaps our most significant economic handicap. It has unbalanced our economy and diverted funding from productive commercial investment. HOW BAD IS THE PROBLEM? The Economist produces a series of interactive charts available on the internet. They compareContinue reading “Chapter 4. NZ’S UNFORTUNATE LOVE OF HOUSING”

Let us start with the big picture. In the year ended 30 June 2019, the entire GDP of New Zealand was exactly $300billion. That is the value of all the goods and services produced in the country that year. Out of that total, the Government drew revenue totalling almost $92billion, or approximately 30.6%. The government’sContinue reading “Chapter 5. TAXATION: POLITICIANS RUN SCARED”

I had basically finished my book in draft when the 2020 Budget was delivered on 14 May 2020. For me it was a cue that a chapter on fiscal policy was also needed. That Budget shows the New Zealand Government has run a substantial deficit (estimated to be $28.3 billion) in the financial year endedContinue reading “Chapter 6. A WORRYING 2020/21 BUDGET”

New Zealand is extraordinarily lucky. It suffers only low levels of corruption. But are we too complacent? Consider what corruption is. If you live in a corrupt country it will likely have a suspect police force, it will almost certainly have a judicial system that is not independent of the government, and it will haveContinue reading “Chapter 7. CORRUPTION IN NEW ZEALAND”

Until the Covid lockdown and border closure, tourism had become our largest export earner  and our largest industry. The statistics were impressive: In 2010, tourists numbered 2.5million, in 2015 – over 3million, in 2019 – 3.9million. That is a 56% increase in ten years. Revenue from international visitors in 2019 amounted to $17.2 billion andContinue reading “Chapter 8. TOURISM: REINCARNATION NEEDED”

New Zealand has seen record high immigration in recent years, much of it from Asia. In any discussion of a sensitive subject it is always best to start with facts. New Zealand’s population stood at 3.5million in 1991. It took another 12 years to reach 4 million. It took slightly less time, 11 years, toContinue reading “Chapter 9. IMMIGRATION – DID NZ GET IT WRONG?”

A third of all government spending goes to Welfare, which includes NZ Superannuation. Well over half of total government spending goes on Welfare and Health. With an aging population these two expenditures are set to increase significantly. In the 2019 fiscal year, we spent 9.7% of New Zealand’s GDP on Welfare; 5.9% on Health andContinue reading “Chapter 10. WELFARE – IT’S THE BIG ONE”