Treasury Releases July Round of Working Papers

The Treasury today released two new Working Papers:

• The Risks and Opportunities from Globalisation (WP 07/05)

• The Challenge of Structural Change in APEC Economies (WP 07/06)

Both of these papers form part of the Treasury’s work on economic growth, one of the three overarching outcomes (alongside macroeconomic stability and public sector performance) that the Treasury aims to achieve.

Summaries of the papers follow. The full papers are available on the Treasury’s website at: [http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/.]

The two Working Papers released today are:

WP 07/05 The Risks and Opportunities from Globalisation

This paper outlines the ramifications of globalisation and examines how New Zealand and other governments have responded to the challenges and opportunities globalisation presents. There is a need for New Zealand to continue to look at innovative ways of maintaining and increasing the attractiveness of New Zealand as an investment location; and equipping New Zealand workers with the necessary skills and flexibility for survival in a global economy. The paper explores ideas about what New Zealand could do to ensure we are one of the adaptive economies who can successfully adopt policies that maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of globalisation.

WP 07/06 The Challenge of Structural Change in APEC Economies

Improving New Zealand’s economic performance is one of the key outcomes driving the work of the New Zealand Treasury and international connections are an important means of achieving that. This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical literature on economic growth and income convergence processes in the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on “structural policies” (also called “behind the border barriers” or “structural barriers”) affecting APEC regional economic integration. “Structural policies” refer to domestic measures which can impede the efficient operation of markets and the capacity of businesses to operate. These can take the shape of domestic regulatory systems, competition frameworks and governance structures. The paper suggests that structural policies are impeding growth and convergence, and that structural policy reforms could bring about large economic gains to the region. The paper also looks at the role that APEC can play in promoting and managing the challenges of structural change in the region. It concludes that structural change is an important challenge facing the Asia-Pacific region, and APEC provides New Zealand and other member economies with an important forum to promote improvements in economies’ domestic structural policies.

ENDS