Support for economic growth among Kiwis very fragile

It’s scary how shakey support for economic growth in NZ is.

Most of us support growth, but that backing is delicately poised. It doesn’t take much to tip support over into opposition.

I’ve had a shot at grouping  levels of Kiwi growth support:

GROWTH SUPPORTERS
  • The majority of NZers. However, a 2004 Growth and Innovation Advisory Board survey described this support as “polite”, “fragile” and lacking “passion”.
  • Few register as opposed to growth, but a significant number are at the ‘lukewarm’ end of positive.”
  • And as Bridget Liddell has pointed out: “[We] don’t want too much growth that might mean too many people and that might mean a deterioration in access to this wonderful country”.
  • Passionate growth support is largely the domain of the business community, particularly so-called ‘big business’.

GROWTH SCEPTICS
  • Mainstream NZ. The term ‘growth scepticism’ refers to the idea that previous promises of economic growth have either not been fulfilled, or if they have, the benefits have gone to the already rich and powerful. As a result Kiwis are very sceptical of the motives of growth proponents.
  • BigCake figures this phenomenon spans the political spectrum with both main political parties open to attack in this regard.
  • Many in the business community, particularly small enterprise owners, subscribe.

GROWTH APATHETICS
  • A minority. As the GIAB survey showed, those who believe economic growth doesn’t matter are few.
  • If it does matter for growth apathetics, it’s a close run thing between the benefits of growth (more jobs etc) and its costs (increased congestion etc) so ‘who cares’.

GROWTH FATALISTS
  • Another minority who believe our ability to improve our economic lot is beyond our control.
  • Much of this attitude maybe instinctive, but it has academic support from people like Philip McCann who believe factors we can’t control, like our geography (small and peripheral) and globalisation, mostly determine our destiny.

GROWTH OPPONENTS
  • A significant minority, not for its size but organisation. Opposition is based on the premise that growth, and particularly capitalism’s drive for ever greater levels of private consumption, have put us well down the road to environmental disaster.

From a growth backers’ view point, that’s  that adds up to an ugly picture.

The main aim of the BigCake blog is to help increase Kiwi support for economic growth that improves our quality of life (which wraps in our personal wealth, how healthy we are, education levels, the quality of our natural environment, our lifestyle etc).

But without greater wealth, our quality of life will eventually suffer.

Anyway when BigCake’s is faced with a communications-type problem, he falls back on his PR training and lists the stakeholders (as above), and then tries to figure out what’s going on in their heads, then how do you get them from point A to desirable point B.

Support for growth is, in the words of the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board “fragile”. The GIAB’s work is getting a bit old now, but there’s no reason to believe our attitudes have changed that much.

The Global Financial Crisis and Recession represented what the GIAB would call “burning platforms” for change, but they’re now just smouldering, so not much hope there.

BigCake figures we still don’t see our lifestyle as being that bad compared to other countries and for the moment international surveys support this.

But it looks like we’re betting that this will remain the case, even if our level of personal wealth continues to fall relative to that of other countries.

And that’s a pretty dodgy bet.

admin, 4th August 2010 | Filed under: Culture, Growth sceptics, Targets Tags: , , , , ,

I agree that is clearly not a bet you want to put your money behind. I’d say the greatest chance of growth being achieved is through the conversion of skeptics and fatalists to supporters.

I pin my hopes on international comparison – which means that Kiwis need to stay connected through travel and the digital world – which exposes people to things they want but cannot afford, so they decide to work out a way to get those things (within New Zealand). Desire will convert skeptics, some successes might convert fatalists.

Until that gap is recognised and more people want to reduce it and enough people are convinced we can reduce it, growth supporters need to carefully tend the infrastructure that enables international comparison: broadband roll-out; student exchange and the OE tradition and family holidays overses; and, yes, foreign television!

Danielle, August 6, 2010 at 10:34 am

On the overseas comparison thing, one difference I notice when overseas is the popular attitude to growth. Thinking mainly of Australia here, but in earlier times I’ve noticed it in US and Europe, where there is more ambition, more confidence, more a sense of the possibilities. There was a time when I think Kiwis had these attributes by the truck load, but somewhere in the recent past they got lost.

So perhaps there is a generational problem here regarding attitudes towards growth and it may take sometime to work itself through.

BigCake, August 6, 2010 at 8:11 pm

TVHE has a perspective on growth fatalism – How many economists see government

Check out – http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2010/08/09/how-many-economists-see-government/

admin, August 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm

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