OECD Economics Department Working Papers
Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.
The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.
- ISSN: 18151973 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
Policies to support sustainable long-term growth in New Zealand
As its workforce ages and major economies shift towards producing higher value-added goods and services, New Zealand will face increasing challenges to remain globally competitive and maintain high living standards. Future growth will need to come increasingly from productivity gains, and resources will have to shift towards activities that rely more on skills, technology and intangible assets. Strengthening international linkages will be crucial to overcoming geographic disadvantages and will require improvements in the information and communications technology infrastructure, together with innovation leveraged off the country’s strong primary industry knowledge base. Continuing to raise skill levels and the pensionable age will also help counter the effects of ageing. Lifting national saving, partly by targeting a higher public saving rate, will reduce the persistently high relative real interest rates and the sustained overvaluation of the real exchange rate, which potentially harm economic activity. To improve the sustainability of growth, revenues from non-renewable resource extraction need to be invested for the benefit of future generations and greater efforts devoted to mitigate the damage to natural capital from economic activity, particularly with respect to water quality. This Working Paper relates to the 2013 OECD Economic Review of New Zealand (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/New Zealand).
Keywords: labour force participation, net foreign assets, comparative advantage, green growth, macroeconomic imbalances, trade, innovation, emissions trading scheme, royalties, globalisation, natural capital, product market regulation, sustainable growth, human capital, growth, distance, climate change, migration, ageing
JEL:
E27: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy / Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment: Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications;
Q38: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation / Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation: Government Policy;
O47: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity / Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence;
E61: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook / Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination;
J11: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts;
F10: International Economics / Trade / Trade: General;
Q58: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Environmental Economics: Government Policy;
F62: International Economics / Economic Impacts of Globalization / Economic Impacts of Globalization: Macroeconomic Impacts;
Q54: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming;
Q51: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Valuation of Environmental Effects;
J26: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demand and Supply of Labor / Retirement; Retirement Policies;
J24: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demand and Supply of Labor / Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity;
J18: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics: Public Policy;
E24: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy / Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity;
O43: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity / Institutions and Growth;
E62: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics / Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook / Fiscal Policy
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