by Jim Rose in economic history, economics of regulation, international economics, politics - New Zealand

Wilful ignorance is at its best when criticising the post-1984 economic reforms in New Zealand. Critics can’t be bothered, don’t want to know or pretend they don’t know how heavily regulated the New Zealand economy was up until 1984.

An example is the use of Amazon One-Click which everyone takes for granted. Back in 1984 it would have required an import licence:

To send money overseas you bought money orders from the Post Office. Above a certain amount “about $5 a day” you applied to the Reserve Bank. Same for international magazines – you filled out a form, sent it to the Reserve Bank, and got permission from Nanny to send funds offshore

Of course, when in our intrepid left-wing reactionaries hear of this, they would say that they would agree that that is a bit too much and that regulation should have been repealed. That just makes them Roger Douglas lite!



What else do they want to not bring back: give Telecom back its monopoly; marginal tax rates will go back to 66 per cent, kicking in at $30,000? All shops must close of the weekends?



Importing consumer goods generally required a licence prior to the economic reforms of the labour government that was elected in 1984. In addition, up until 1984, a wide range of goods had quotas that restricted how much could be imported in any one year.



Alan Gibbs recently told a story about every time his tractor company wanted to import a tractor, he needed a new import licence and his competitors could object to the issue of that licence! Nowadays, they would use the Resource Management Act resource consenting process to object to competitors when they try and expanded their business.