Rescuing the New Zealand economy : where we went wrong and how we can fix it / Bryan Gould.

Includes index.

Without really knowing why, many New Zealanders are baffled and disturbed by the current economic turmoil of our cripplingly high interest rates, and a massively over-valued New Zealand dollar that is destroying the returns of our mainstay exporters. Since the radical reforms of Rogernomics in the mid 1980s, our political masters, and most mainstream economists have consistently told us that this situation is the inevitable result of good economic management. Bryan Gould however, disagrees. In Rescuing the New Zealand Economy he argues that the ruling monetarist orthodoxy is seriously flawed, and clearly shows how this extreme policy straitjacket has been responsible for decades of damage to our productive economy. But importantly, this book looks beyond the recent, depressing past to a more optimistic vision for the future, and lays out a way forward that utilises a more balanced and humane view of what economic management is about. Using the experience of many other Western democracies, who have been far more economically successful than New Zealand, he outlines mainstream, well-tested ways for restoring productivity and controlling inflation without stifling economic growth. This book is also ultimately a plea for people to become better informed and to enter into the debate about how we can revive the New Zealand economy. It is now beyond doubt that our economic performance over recent decades has been woeful, and that something desperately needs to be done. Change will only come if people demand it - reading this book will be an important first step in helping to make that happen.