Adam Smith's islands : New Zealand's incomparable restructuring, 1980-1995 / John C. Weaver.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weaver, John C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

New Zealand--Economic policy.

New Zealand--Economic conditions--1984-.

New Zealand--Politics and government--1972-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 659 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Through an in-depth case study of New Zealand, Adam Smith's Islands advances scholarship on economic restructuring activities prominent from the late 1970s into the 1990s.

"From the late 1970s into the 1990s, many developed countries restructured relations between state and economy. Among them, New Zealand went far, fast, and left a clear trail, making it possible to shift attention from outside commentaries and critiques to inside expositions, debates among ministers and public servants over options, plus mistakes, surprises, accomplishments, and legacies. The general aim is to advance scholarship on economic restructuring activities prominent in the 1980s (in OECD and former Warsaw Pact) using an in-depth case study of New Zealand. The coverage is considerable: inflation fighting, central banking and monetary policy, the corporatization of government run businesses (several banks, telephone system, electricity, plantation forests and pulp and paper, coal mines, railway system, tourism hotels), reviews of social welfare and health care, changing a craft trade union system, and the sale of certain state assets (Air New Zealand, New Zealand Steel, Petrocorp, a shipping company, state insurance, and forestry rights). The combination of regulations and mounting evidence that the state had not functioned as an effective manager infuriated many employers, splitting the business community and primary producers into defenders of subsidisation and free-market insurgents. Realists in politics and the public service recognised that after years of protection and subsidisation deep changes could only be unpleasant. The unanswerable question was how long would social adjustments last? Adam Smith's Islands settles on the verifiable. Attention to global economic shocks as well as distinctive local practices in finance, trade, labour relations, and social welfare can re-focus attention from neoliberal public intellectuals to local problem solving and a fading consensus around the notion that state actions were fair and effective. Scope is one dimension. Depth is another. Senior public servants involved in restructuring sent records to the archives undisturbed from file cabinets. Thus, the top letter, minute, or policy paper in a bundle was the most recent, the bottom item the oldest. Marginal comments (candid), sticky notes, memos to file, faxes, and other materials were present. This book draws on direct primary sources from roughly twenty-five state collections in the national archives and fifteen deposits of personal papers at university libraries and the national library. An archival cornucopia supports a narrative that has little in common with publications by authors of intellectual histories of neoliberalism. They touch on the economic transformations experienced in the late twentieth century, summoning the label 'neoliberal.' While this book shares with them a belief that the 1980s was remarkably important period because of adjustments to the state in many countries, this book emphasises context. We need to understand better why core institutions, cultural beliefs, and practices shed some of their once potent legitimacy. New ideas did not supplant old practices merely on account of persuasive or moneyed advocates and lobbies. Adam Smith's Islands settles on the verifiable. Attention to global economic shocks as well as distinctive local practices in finance, trade, labour relations, and social welfare can re-focus attention from neoliberal public intellectuals to local problem solving and a fading consensus around the notion that state actions were fair and effective."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Remodelling a Labour Party: Leadership and Political Modernity

Political Realism in a Westminster Democracy: The Means and the Will

Denouement: Beehive to Hornets' Nest

The Invisible Handicraft: Monetary Policy in Practice

Time Frames: From Short-Term Interventions to Long-Term Commitments

"Deep in the Heart of Taxes": The GST and Capital Gains

State-Owned Enterprises: Values and Productivity Gains

Privatisation and Networks: Airline and Railway, Electricity and Telecom

Capital in Nature: Global Integration and State Forests

Philosophies of Welfare: From Equality to Equity

Ending Exceptionalism: Private-Sector Labour Relations

Viability Shakedown: Producer Adjustment in an Agrarian Country

Rejigging the State Machinery.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780228023845

022802384X

9780228023838

0228023831

OCLC:

1451416512