New Zealand has developed a strange relationship with productivity. We talk about it like it belongs in a Treasury spreadsheet instead of in real life.

I see productivity as a means of shaping everything. Wages. Housing. Healthcare. Infrastructure. Whether young people stay in their country or leave for better prospects.

Our far-below average productivity growth of 0.2% per year compared to the OECD average of 0.9% shows up for Kiwis in stagnant wages and unaffordable necessities like housing and healthcare. It’s been a problem for New Zealand for over a decade, regardless of who’s in Government.

So what’s stopping us from being a consistent productivity bright spot, like a Singapore, Denmark, or Ireland? Long term planning. It’s what all of these standout economies have in common.

For example, when Singapore designed their economic system, they opted to think decades ahead so they could create the innovation, infrastructure, and business foundations for the kind of future they wished for their grandchildren.

They opted to invest heavily in public housing, infrastructure, education, and industrial capability. They prioritised social harmony and a strong public sector. They invested in becoming a magnet for international trade and investment. But they also focussed strongly on building domestic capability and skills alongside those investments.

Singapore carefully designed their unique breakthrough economy and – for more than 50 years now – their long-term approach has delivered outstanding economic results. Their GDP per capita is consistently among the highest in the world, their schools are world-class, and their life expectancy is world-leading. None of that happened overnight, and none of it happened accidentally.

The same approach of long-term thinking helped Denmark transform their economy. A key Danish focus was energy security. From susceptibility to the oil price shocks of the 70s (when their electricity from renewables was less than 5%) they are today world leaders in energy efficiency, decarbonisation, and clean energy (their electricity from renewables is now around 90%). This long-term priority was a key part of an economic strategy that has kept them at the top of the OECD table for GDP per capita. 

So what’s New Zealand’s economic vision? Our shared plan for the unique productivity we want our grandchildren to inherit?

Right now, New Zealand doesn’t have a coherent, bi-partisan economic vision.

But I think we can look to the surging Māori economy to see how long-term stewardship and intergenerational thinking have the power to produce a different kind of growth and resilience.

I think we can also look to the deep success of high-value, research-and-technology strengthened business and ask how we can make innovators (like Zespri, Rocket Lab, and Wētā Workshop and Wēta FX) our norm.

Whatever long-term vision we rally around will need the support of long-term supporting mechanisms.

We need to break our habit of tying economic performance so closely to whoever happens to be in government. Strong economies are built by institutions, businesses, workers, and governments all moving with some level of shared long-term direction. They are not rebuilt every three years.

At Opportunity, we think the mechanisms for long-term productivity look like:

• properly funding our scientists and innovators

• creating a new legal structure to attract investment in businesses that generate profit while doing social and environmental good

• breaking up uncompetitive markets that inflate prices and suppress innovation

• building the transport systems, housing solutions, energy, technology, and other productivity-enhancing infrastructure our future rests on

• investing in the skills and capability needed to deliver high-value business

I believe we have the talent, stability, resources, and creativity to craft a future that is incredible. What we need now is the willingness to think beyond the next quarter, the next poll, or the next election cycle.

A future full of breakthroughs is within reach, if we choose to build it today.