Professor Robert MacCulloch: Why's Productivity Low in NZ? ....

Why's Productivity Low in NZ? The HMNZS Manawanui's Inquiry Explains. Poor Leaders. Its Lousy CEOs, Bosses, Inbred Boards, Ministers, Admirals. Our Non-Human Systems Work Just Fine.

Want to know why productivity is low in NZ? Go read the report into "the circumstances that resulted in the loss of HMNZS MANAWANUI off Upolu, Samoa, on 6 October 2024". It is an allegory for why our economy is not performing better. My latest view is we shouldn't be blaming our economic institutions (which are the rules, or structures, that we work within and which constrain our behaviors). Instead the reason is that a large bunch of the people in charge are nothing short of useless. How come?

Professor John Raine: Shifting Investment towards High-Productivity Industry

Over the last couple of weeks, several posts have had a common factor - New Zealand’s low productivity - indicative of increasing concern over an issue which is critical if the country is to pay down debt, and invest in infrastructure, health, welfare and education at the level needed.

Don Brash reminded us again in his 12th May 2024 article [1] that New Zealand has a high ratio of median house price-to-income. The highly productive USA economy has a house price-to-income ratio of only 4.1. At a ratio of 10.5, NZ ranks 47th out of 104 countries in the Numbeo statistics [2]. Successful economies like Singapore (14.9) and Switzerland (11.1) are higher, but New Zealand has a low-income economy, and high house prices mean less discretionary investment capability to support the productive sector.