tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7342528022617501525.post258697869155964272..comments2024-03-28T15:05:33.781+13:00Comments on Economics New Zealand: How're we doing?Donal Curtinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03687495556590450225noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7342528022617501525.post-86453372766912443412018-07-09T20:13:25.243+12:002018-07-09T20:13:25.243+12:00Supermarket (organic) mince in DE? €7.50 =$13/kg.....Supermarket (organic) mince in DE? €7.50 =$13/kg.....John Burlandhttp://youmustbefromaway.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7342528022617501525.post-39328728224699759672018-06-04T10:21:32.224+12:002018-06-04T10:21:32.224+12:00Hi - thanks for the comments!
The one big thing I...Hi - thanks for the comments!<br /><br />The one big thing I'd take away from Ireland is their strong focus on attracting foreign direct investment. They've been at it a long time, they've got very good at it, helped a bit of course by being a nice base within the EU to operate from but even so. And it had a bigger benefit than they may have first thought, in that it spawned a whole sector of local supply services to the foreign companies that set up. You also got spin-offs happening as people who had been working in the foreign firms set up on their own.<br /><br />Secondary elements in the story are infrastructure and education. When they were poorer the Irish made good use of EU money (and spent quite a bit of their own) on their infrastructure. The roads for example are hugely better than they were in my days there. And their secondary education system is more demanding, competitive, and academic than ours. <br /><br />Beyond that I'm not too sure there's a lot to learn from them (and especially not their profligate and unsustainable public spending in the Celtic Tiger days). A good place to start if you're interested in Ireland is their National Competitiveness Council<br /> http://www.competitiveness.ie/ <br /><br />which incidentally has just published the details of the latest IMD assessment of Ireland <br /><br />http://www.competitiveness.ie/Publications/2018/IMD%20Results%20Bulletin.pdf<br /><br />There's also a good blog on topical economic issues in Ireland here<br /><br />http://www.irisheconomy.ie/<br />Donal Curtinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03687495556590450225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7342528022617501525.post-33470558602186138932018-06-02T06:54:46.039+12:002018-06-02T06:54:46.039+12:00This is a great read. The productivity problem in ...This is a great read. The productivity problem in New Zealand is well known but hard to address. You're obviously onto something by casting an eye over business efficiency and investment (overseas and local). Is it possible to get some serious policy ideas from countries like Ireland - I'd love to see some serious research. I tried to wip around the net for some ideas. I notice they have a 33% capital gains tax (not on the family home). They do have restrictions on foreign (non Eu) sales of farmland. Their local costs on basics (mince, avocados etc :) are probably like NZs. I like to think that we could improve business investment by discouraging Mom and Pop investors from land banking and investing in rentals (maybe the government could put up subsidised apartments in Auckland like they do in Singapore). Ireland, though, has a fairly similar housing profile, with maybe better infrastructure than Auckland. I'm going to read Enterprise Irelands Guide, I think they have a 25% R&D tax credit! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11799406796788862481noreply@blogger.com