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To write this article breaks my heart a little. The reality is that, after returning from Boston University, I did not want to leave New Zealand—at least not on a long-term basis. Despite the consistent trend towards negative net-migration to New Zealand, I suspect many fellow expats share my sentiment.

I reminisce days at Raglan Beach, the Bay of Islands, and the Coromandel Peninsula with my family. When I return to visit, I still love to run the hills that surround Te Akatea Station, the farm where I grew up near Ngaruawahia. The Waikato River gave many enjoyable summers of rowing training, and I loved to race on Lake Karapiro (pictured, 2007).

New Zealand is home to many precious memories, and I miss being able to play and watch rugby. Back in 1993, for example, my father, my two brothers, and I drove two hours north to the “Big Smoke” to watch Waikato play Auckland. Waikato returned triumphant, ending Auckland’s eight-year reign with the Ranfurly Shield—a title that dates back more than a century.

These days, my family have season tickets at the new Waikato stadium, and I hear that the now-professional team, the Chiefs, have won the revised Super Rugby championship for the first time.

I could go on, but in spite of these memories, I’ve been living abroad since 2008, in Canada, the United States, and Ecuador. As I work and travel, many people tell me they would like to go to New Zealand, both to travel and live—not that many get there. They also wonder why I chose to leave.

Recently, a Stateless Man listener emailed me in a serious manner. After living in Australia and visiting New Zealand, he and his wife are considering a move there with their five children. He was curious as to why I chose to come back to the United States, what my reception had been in North Carolina, and whether I might suffer from a short-sighted or faulty perception of New Zealand that many people have towards the land of their birth.

Given that I receive these questions often, the first one in particular, I’ve decided to share abridged segments of my response here.

Leaving New Zealand I returned to New Zealand after BU graduation at the end of 2006, and my desire was to make the national rowing team. Although I stayed down under for two years and raced two seasons, that endeavor was unsuccessful. At that point I was sick of university and decided to finish up with rowing as well, but I struggled to find employment. This was the Great Recession, and people were turning me down for jobs that paid little. That was despite that I had degrees in economics and political science, was published at a young age, and had taught at the university level. The New Zealand Treasury and a top consulting firm rejected me at the final interview stage of recruitment, but even those jobs would only have paid about US$25,000—perhaps not even that. Frustrated and broke, I went on the road, first to Canada, looking for any kind of prospect I could find. I would have stayed in New Zealand, but I was desperate for an opportunity to earn some money. In not too long I received an excellent offer, and I was back in the United States writing for an economic research group in Massachusetts (AIER). That’s where I got my first big break as a writer, which eventually enabled my relocation to North Carolina. (I was far from alone in my move abroad, as I’ve noted in an earlier newsletter. At this point, most of my high-school friends have left for Australia or the United Kingdom.) While I grew up on the family’s organic sheep and cattle farm—a pristine life—so much has changed since those days. As a child I had no concept of the deeper problems in New Zealand, particularly the struggling economy and the anti-success, “tall poppy” culture. I did not see these things until I came to the United States and found myself surrounded by extremely successful and motivated people. The contrast from my school and university years in New Zealand was stark. Reception in North Carolina People in North Carolina have treated me well, and I am reluctant to leave my many great friends here. The same can be said for my extended stays in Massachusetts and Louisiana. (The border and TSA people are another matter.) Given my line of work and strong pro-liberty positions, people tend to forget that I am not from the United States. If it were not for draconian and confused immigration laws, I would probably stay. Instead, most likely I’ll be moving to Chile in a few months. Misperceptions of One’s Home Country There appears to be a lot of truth to the grass-is-greener saying. The experience of a tourist is vastly different to the experience of someone living and working in a country on a long-term basis. Once the honeymoon period is over, the realities set in, and one soon sees the uglier side of a nation. More specifically, I always tell people that New Zealand is an incredible location for tourists, with so many beautiful, peaceful locations. I would even go there for that purpose. However, amid booming tourism, the trend of New Zealanders leaving is indicative of the broader situation. For living, one thing that concerns me greatly is disposable income, and New Zealand is relatively poor for that. People there face both high living costs and high taxation—although I guess if you are an accounting wiz you can get around a lot of that. Consider, for example, that the cost of housing in New Zealand is approximately double what you’d find in the United States, and New Zealanders tend to have smaller houses. The minimum wage of $US11.30, combined with geographic isolation and a 15 percent national sales tax, also guarantees a high cost for most retail items.

While New Zealand scores high in measures of economic freedom, she is not a haven for limited government. Importantly, she is 95th in the world for government spending, transfers, and tax rates. That is one component of the Fraser Institute rankings, which place New Zealand third for economic freedom and first for human freedom. The Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal also place New Zealand very well at fourth in the world—as outlined in the diagram below.

From these complimentary placings, except for size of government, my main conclusion is that there are no pro-liberty havens to escape to. So, despite the shortcomings of New Zealand, she would still be high on my list. If you are seeking a lack of corruption, peacefulness, and impeccable countryside—particularly if you are already well-established financially—New Zealand is definitely a place to consider.

I know many immigrants who are glad to have made the move, and that includes my old political-science professor, Daniel Zirker. Originally from Montana, he appeared on a December episode of The Stateless Man. However, his cell phone connection was scratchy, and the audio is not suitable for sharing. If you are still eager, you can download that hour of the show (50 minutes).

That episode included an interview with Peter Cresswell, an architect, blogger at Not PC, and founding member of the Libertarianz political party. I also gave a brief response to the perception of New Zealand as a free-market haven (8 minutes).

If you are 30 or under, an easy way to get there is through the relaxed work-holiday visa, which is open to citizens of 39 countries. It grants a full year to travel and work in New Zealand and would be an ideal way to get to know the country.