tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post9173406937993588821..comments2024-03-29T10:51:27.752+13:00Comments on Not PC: #TopTen | No. 5: But how do they *know* NZ is so prosperous? [updated]Peter Cresswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-10449030084417864512017-01-04T18:33:48.418+13:002017-01-04T18:33:48.418+13:00These indexes that rank NZ highly are certainly su...These indexes that rank NZ highly are certainly subjective, but the subjectivity would presumably apply to the other countries score as well. The different studies ranking NZ at or near the top are consistent, so for it not to be true there would need to be a greater degree of bias or over-stating of the positives for NZ compared to other countries. The question is whether NZ's scores are more positively biased than others, and if so why? Yes our scores may be boosted by local cheerleaders, but won't every country have its local cheerleaders?<br /><br />As I type this I'm currently in Switzerland, and as I look around me it's hard to believe that NZ is more prosperous than here. Part of my perception may well be the tendency for tourists to mainly see the positives of a place and not the negatives. It's something I clearly see from my Australian based father when he comes to NZ, and thinks most things in NZ are better. I on the other hand have lived in both NZ and Aus and have a more balanced view. I think that's because it's only when you live in a place do you encounter any underlying negatives that a tourist doesn't see.<br /><br />So my perception of Switzerland may be overly positive, because my tendency as a tourist is to focus primarily on the things that are different and better. But in acknowledging that I can see why NZ's scores could end up being over-stated more than others. NZ is small and the most isolated and hardest to get to of any of the top countries, therefore harder for any outsider to see the negatives. Combine that with the narrative about the 80's free market reforms, a narrative that continues to be told today by organisations such as FEE, almost implying the reforms have been ongoing to the present day (in reality the stopped 20 years ago), and you can clearly see how the 'legend' about how good things are on an island at the bottom of the South Pacific could be propogated.<br /><br />One example of how NZ's score could be over-stated: it's only when you've gone through the process of getting a complex resource consent for a simple project do you understand how the RMA makes our high ranking for 'property rights' a sham. Based on the tunnels, railways, and cable cars I see going up mountains everywhere here I doubt the same constraints exist here. But is this a difference these indexes pick up on? I doubt it.MarkThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199883270652041621noreply@blogger.com