Themes from the Treasury’s Guest Lecture Series: Productivity in a Changing World

Executive Summary#

This paper provides a summary of the Treasury’s Guest Lecture Series (TGLS) on the theme of Productivity in a Changing World, which ran over 2023-24.

The purpose of the TGLS is to bring the latest research and cutting-edge thinking into the Treasury, and to foster public engagement and debate. We chose the theme of Productivity in a Changing World in recognition that lifting our productivity performance continues to be central to improving New Zealanders’ wellbeing, but that we are facing this challenge in the context of significant economic, social and environmental shifts.

It has been a fascinating and thought-provoking series. We heard from a range of excellent speakers, exploring the implications of the changing world we find ourselves in and what this means for productivity growth in New Zealand and around the world. The Treasury has already been drawing on the insights from the series to inform its work, particularly in a recent Treasury Paper that explores trends in New Zealand’s productivity performance to inform our economic forecasts.

This paper draws out themes that emerged across the seminar series, as well as providing a summary of the presentation from each speaker. There were many insights and different perspectives. Our speakers, and their discussions with audiences, have highlighted the wide-ranging and complex interaction between global trends and productivity. However, the following themes emerged through the series:

• Most of the speakers recognised the global productivity slowdown, and that New Zealand has not been exempted. While there were different degrees of optimism for the future, several speakers signalled that there are challenges ahead.
• Many speakers highlighted the importance of innovation and technological change, as well as the debate on the extent to which innovation will contribute to future productivity.
• Linked to the role of innovation, the importance of skills and capabilities which support the diffusion and adoption of new technologies, was highlighted by many speakers. The role of management capabilities was particularly emphasised.
• Last, but not least, many of our speakers explored the theme of climate change and productivity, including the compatibility of climate change and productivity goals.

This paper aims to capture the key lessons from the series and help others to access them. If you want to delve deeper into the presentation of any of the speakers, you can find video, transcripts and slides on the Treasury website.

Acknowledgements#

The Treasury is very grateful to the speakers in our Treasury Guest Lecture Series on Productivity in a Changing World. We thank them for sharing their insights in the seminar series, as well as their help in reviewing summaries of their presentations.

The Treasury also acknowledges and thanks Hamed Shafiee for leading the development of the Productivity in the Changing World theme and speaker agenda.