A Tribute to the Founder of Well-being Economics, Richard Easterlin, who we flew out to NZ in 2019. He symbolizes a choice our country must make.

A few weeks ago, the founder of well-being economic, Richard Easterlin died, at the age of 98. In 2019, I invited him out to NZ, as a Visiting Professor to Auckland University. He was interviewed by Liam Dann at the NZ Herald and had a degree of influence over this nation's approach to the pandemic, as recognized by the Beehive in June 2020, which includes a link to a Zoom interview that I did with him back then. Easterlin was the intellectual architect of former PM Ardern and Finance Minister Robertson's "well-being approach" and "well-being budgets". That approach has always been scorned by National and ACT, who regard it as a joke. It is no joke to me. Easterlin argued, with much evidence, that the main drivers of human happiness are high quality health & health-care, a satisfying job, and close support from a family group. Economic growth and an obsession with consumerism & materialism were not particularly important in his view. Why? Because he believed strongly, with lots to back him up, that human well-being depended not so much on how wealthy we are in absolute terms, but more on how wealthy we are compared to others.

One can view NZ as a country now divided into two halves - one pushing for economic growth - which has become the Coalition's sole focus now - versus another group who are not so obsessed with it and give greater weight to quality of life, work-life balance, and overall lifestyle. I'm not laughing, like the Coalition, at Easterlin's legacy. Aside from being a friend, he was a deep thinker. Don't most people live in NZ because, though they could become richer by going to live somewhere else, still prefer the overall quality of life here? The Coalition will not be re-elected on the basis that it fires up economic growth should it fail to fix the health-care system. In such a case, Kiwis will react at the ballot box with ferocious anger. It is why the Conservative government in the UK lost in a landslide that saw over a decade of Labour rule under Tony Blair. Should Kiwis see their overall quality of life being undermined during this government, that issue will reduce their support for the Coalition more than headline figures on how fast the overall economy grows. To the extent higher GDP is not shared around, it matters less to people.

So don't laugh too loud just yet should you support National or ACT about Easterlin's well-being economics. NZ is the 11th happiest nation in the world. Isn't that position more important than our GDP per capita ranking? We certainly do need to be more economically prosperous, but not to the extent we lose our lifestyle. Then it is certainly time to leave. Why, by the way, did PM Luxon say he is "wealthy" & "sorted & buy a bach on Waiheke? Why does he symbolize the view that after acquiring a boat, bach and BMW (in his case a Tesla) one is fine? In Silicon Valley in the US, a guy with Luxon's wealth would not stand out. But Luxon feels relatively wealthy in NZ. He wants to be King of his Ant Hill, rather than a small fish in a big pond. That is Easterlin's point. Luxon is thinking of his position compared to other Kiwis. He feels his life-style in NZ is great since his health is good (especially with his private health insurance), has a satisfying job, supportive wife & children, so feels "sorted". In the sense of valuing overall quality of life, Richard Easterlin was a huge fan of Kiwis. So go good with the Big Guy Upstairs, Richard, who probably shares your values.

The speakers at Waikato University's 2025 Economic Forum, "Unconstrained Thinking for Constrained Times", Symbolize NZ's Stagnation.

To help solve this country's economics woes, our Universities have jumped into action. Yes, Waikato has unleashed its 2025 New Zealand Economics Forum Conference, marketed under the title "Unconstrained Thinking for Constrained Times". So who is unleashing this new wave of thinking about how to fix our broken system? Well, the conference kicked off this past Thursday with an Opening Introduction by a guy called Matt Bolger, a Senior Fellow in Waikato's Management School. Ring a bell? His father is Jim Bolger, the former NZ Prime Minister. Jim was Chancellor of Waikato University for 12 years from 2007 to 2019. Bolger Senior really dislikes Ruth Richardson & her fiscal austerity program that got NZ's spiraling debt under control in the early 90s, leading to him discontinuing her as his Finance Minister. He's attacked the market economic reforms of the 80s-90s. The gossip I heard was that Bolger Senior never wanted Ruth as Finance Minister, but the Business Round Table insisted, threatening to withdraw support unless he relented.

After Bolger Junior kicking off the conference, its "I've-got-no-plan" Finance Minister Willis up next to pretend her government does have a plan when she actually spent six years in Opposition not working on a plan to break up our monopolies & make NZ competitive, and lower the cost of living. She's only just now commissioned reports on those issues, but its still all talk & no action. After Willis - and I kid you not - are the Big Monopoly Bank Chief Economists, from ANZ & ASB, pretending to be concerned about solving NZ's problems with "unconstrained thinking", when in fact their job brief is to strengthen their own Banks monopoly position and increase the cost-of-living for down-trodden Kiwis, so they can send more profits back to their US & Aussie Shareholders (and get paid more themselves).

Not to be outdone by a Finance Minister with no plan and Big Monopoly Bank economists, Wellington accountant Sir Brian Roche, Boss of NZ Post from 2010-17 under Sir John Key's government, is next up at Waikato's Economics Forum as a Key Note Speaker. National has appointed him to be Public Services Commissioner. He's no Elon Musk. To the contrary, Roche teamed up with Labour Party insider Heather Simpson. Together, in 2020, they were chosen by Ardern to lead a group to "improve COVID-19 border security". Part of the group responsible for locking NZ down harder & longer, stuffing our economy as those lockdowns dragged on too long. Now the same folks are telling us how to un-constrain our thinking? On becoming Commissioner last year, Roche attacked the last time NZ did significant reforms in the 1980s, describing them as, "you throw everything up & hope something lands well".  How insulting. Roche ain't no economist. Does he object to the RBNZ being made independent? To cutting income taxes? To introducing GST? To more competition to bust monopoly power, which importers had back then? To floating the NZ dollar? Seems Roche prefers "steady as she goes". The Commissioner ain't half the man Sir Roger Douglas is.

Up next is the new Treasury Secretary (and old timer Wellington career bureaucrat) Iain Rennie. He worked in Jim Bolger's Office - so I guess that makes this Waikato Forum a Jim Bolger Convention. Rennie has worked as a career civil servant for 30 years. He was Public Services Commissioner under both Labour PM Helen Clark and National PM John Key. For that entire time, his day-to-day job had next to nothing to do with economics. Why on earth, when there are amazing Kiwi talents in economics - we have several of the highest ranked economists in the world, including a chap who has been ranked number 1 in the world in the profession for many years - did Finance Minister Willis appoint this guy to be Treasury Secretary a few months ago? Does he symbolize "unconstrained thinking"?

Lets finish with some of the other star speakers chosen by Waikato University as the types who can unleash a new era of prosperity for us. There's Waikato's own Vice Chancellor who moonlights as Chair of the Reserve Bank of NZ, I-Wanna-Medical-School-and-Former-Nat-Minister-Steven-Joyce-will-Help-me-Get-One, Neil Quigley. Quigley presided over the $50 billion money printing program & slashing of interest rates by the RBNZ which fueled out-of-control inflation. He's a great supporter of the Governor. Quigley bears responsibility for our stagnation as he supported the Bank's "engineering" of NZ's on-going recessions, which in large part were due to the RBNZ's excessively lax monetary policy in the preceding period. Another star speaker to un-constrain our thinking is Rebecca Wright, a journo from Main Stream Media outlet, Newshub. Hang on, aren't they bankrupt? Wasn't it on Wright's show that Shamubeel Equab called ACT leader Seymour "economically illiterate"?

Yes, Waikato University's conference on mapping out NZ's future stands as a symbol of our economic decline. How come an establishment of well-connected types keep bobbing up again & again in the big jobs, blocking career paths of a talented young generation of Kiwis who were passed over for those positions & so decided to leave the country? Waikato's speakers are not symbols of the types of people required to take NZ forward - who are genuinely interested in "unconstrained thinking". Shame on Willis for not promoting this new type who is capable of leading change. Shame on her for reaching backwards, not forwards, and surrounding herself with the old guard. She cannot pretend she wants change when not a single one of her appointments intends to disrupt the old order.