The Search for Balance

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 756, 15 January 1954, Page 10

The Search for Balance

ECONOMIC STABILITY IN NEW ZEALAND, edited by Professor R. S. Parker; New Zealand Institute of Public Administration, 12/6.

(Reviewed by

W.B.

S.

HE public are interested in ) economic affairs to the extent ‘that their wages and salaries | change, the prices, quality and | quantity of goods in the shops change, housing becomes more difficult or easier, and roads, schools 'and other public buildings deteriorate | or do not deteriorate. Cabinet Ministers _and Public Service and University econ- | omists have also been interested in pre- | cisely these things, for recommendations and decisions which affect all of them | must be made if any kind of balance is to emerge in New Zealand’s national , economy. In order to exchange ideas and perhaps provide the public with ' more details on these problems, the New | Zealand Institute of Public Administra_tion arranged for a series of papers to | be read at its annual convention in | May, 1953. These papers, together with the gist of the discussions, have now | been published. Their publication is

y justihMed--there are thoughtful and often penetrating discussions of some economic problems ' of New Zealand by econ- ' omists and public servants _with a keen interest and a highly developed conscience. These men came | together primarily to dis- | cuss economic stability- , they ended up inevitably by discussing economic development. In fact, the main criticism that can be made of the convention is that the wrong topic was chosen. LS ae ei

| dhe title of "KReconomic Stability -deait with history. If the title had been "Economic Development," the papers would have thrown a stronger and better light on present problems and those of the years to come. In the next 20 | years another million will be added to ‘ the population. New Zealand’s capital | facilities transport, buildings, fac- | tories, equipment-are, in many cases, already inadequate. Providing adequate | capital building for the future involves | discussions of taxation, borrowing, | credit policy, the allocation of physical | resources and the standard of living it- | self. A start has been made on this by | the timely conference on capital de- | velopment held in Christchurch in August last. But before papers are prepared for | further discussion it would be as well ‘for everybody concerned to absorb |these papers on economic stability. | Readers will be charmed by Professor | Belshaw’s tight and nimble discussion of stability and growth, and agree with | his plea for more economic research. | They will be impressed by the Govern- | ment Statistician’s: paper on social ac- | counting and also by his humanity. They may read with nostalgic regret | Professor Simkin on monetary policy | and raise their New Zealand eyebrows | when he talks of dual exchange rates. | When they have read the papers they | should .turn to Professor Parker’s | balanced introduction to crystallise their | thoughts. He has, like an impartial

judge, summed up the trends of the Dapers and the public discussion. And we conclude-that all New Zealand’s pressure groups should digest the ideas in this book before they say another word, that there does not seem to be a consumers’ pressure group, that New Zealand's sterling funds govern New Zealand’s. economic development, that there is something seriously wrong with the dairy industry guaranteed price formula, that the praiseworthy preoccupation with income security does not necessarily provide for development, that there is a lot of thinking in the Treasury Department, and. that the demand -for lower taxation is not necessarily the result of thinking.