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Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis
The divide between New Zealand’s poorest and wealthiest inhabitants has widened alarmingly over recent decades. Differences in income have grown faster than in most other developed countries.
New Zealand society is being reshaped, stretching to accommodate new distance between those who ‘have’ and those who ‘have not’. Income inequality is a crisis that affects us all.
A diverse gathering of New Zealand scholars, journalists, researchers, business leaders, workers, students and parents share these pages. Their voices speak to the complex shape of income inequality, and its effects on the communities of these Pacific islands.
New Zealand society is being reshaped, stretching to accommodate new distance between those who ‘have’ and those who ‘have not’. Income inequality is a crisis that affects us all.
A diverse gathering of New Zealand scholars, journalists, researchers, business leaders, workers, students and parents share these pages. Their voices speak to the complex shape of income inequality, and its effects on the communities of these Pacific islands.
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 20, 2016
Best quote in book so far: page 45 about Neoliberalism
This mind-set inclines people to think that, when ninety-five bones are hidden in a room in which are let a hundred dogs, the five who emerge without a bone must be deficient in skills and motivation.
So the economic blueprint is essentially free market rules and it benefits all of society if the rich get richer. Hmm reckon the only people saying that are the mega rich, do you feel like the last 20 years have been for society's benefit when the bottom 50% of earners income has either remained the same or if you are unfortunate enough to be categorised as the "deserving poor" actually decreased while the top 1% of earners income has been raised by at least 50% - oh but I forget myself, they work harder don't they - silly me. Like much harder than someone who has to have 3 jobs just to stay afloat and a camping holiday down the road is way beyond their means because it would mean their kids went bury to school - oh wait, there are 80000 kids in NZ alone who are already going to school hungry.
About time the 90% rose up and complained isn't it?
Passages I particularly like:
Chapter 6: page 101 "There is a well-known Samoan proverb, 'O le fogava'a e tasi', which states simply that, on the boat in which we all journey, there is 'only one deck'
Chapter 8: page 130 "Unless it is accepted that New Zealand has two founding cultures, not one; unless Maori culture and identity are valued in everything government says and does; and unless they are welcomed into the very centre of the way we do things in this country, nothing will change.
Chapter 10: page 159 "a genuine blending of the Maori worldview, with its dynamic, community-grounded customs and values held in a frame of reciprocal responsibility to each other and the natural world, and the equally dynamic western model, with its technologies and capital market economy and systems of management, would have been a heady mix indeed."
[Could we not give this worldview a try now please - sounds way better than the wealth grabbing/me me me attitude/denial of man-made climate change shit we've currently sleep-walked our way into.]
Chapter 10: page 162 "These questions are a reminder that a traditional worldview, where the health of the planet and it's ecosystems comes before the rights of people to benefit individually from the commons, may have much to offer in these troubled times.
Perhaps there is again considerable value in a framework that recognises other living beings, including plants, animals and fish, as familial relations who share a reciprocal responsibility for each other's welfare. Perhaps a community model that assumes a collective responsibility for the welfare of all it's members, and then conducts itself accordingly, might help restore trust and community cohesion, and return meaning to both aspects of 'civil society'."
Chapter 13: page 204 "... The evidence from New Zealand of the benefits of high-performance approaches is significant. They include:
. Motivated staff, with greater job security and higher wages, who are able to participate in the decisions that affect them
. Greater job satisfaction and more opportunities for personal and career development in a positive and satisfying workplace
. Increased confidence, trust and openness in work relationships
. The ability to work through change and conflict constructively
. Improved employee relations and reduced workplace conflict and tension
. Improvements in work processes and service delivery
. Easier staff recruitment and increased staff retention rates
. Shared ownership of business outcomes and results and better business performance and long-term viability."
Chapter 14: page 220 "Against the idea of increasing benefits - and the support for those who receive them - are a number of arguments. The first is that a significant increase in benefits would act as a disincentive for people to seek paid work and would encourage them to remain on a benefit. While this may be valid for a very small group, the available evidence is that the work ethic is strong among beneficiaries. The indirect New Zealand evidence does not support arguments about a lack of motivation to undertake paid work; for example, benefit numbers fell when jobs were more readily available a few years ago (unemployment was just 3.8 per cent in late 2007), and hundreds of people queue up every time, for example, a supermarket is opened, even though supermarkets often provide low-paid, insecure jobs.
This mind-set inclines people to think that, when ninety-five bones are hidden in a room in which are let a hundred dogs, the five who emerge without a bone must be deficient in skills and motivation.
So the economic blueprint is essentially free market rules and it benefits all of society if the rich get richer. Hmm reckon the only people saying that are the mega rich, do you feel like the last 20 years have been for society's benefit when the bottom 50% of earners income has either remained the same or if you are unfortunate enough to be categorised as the "deserving poor" actually decreased while the top 1% of earners income has been raised by at least 50% - oh but I forget myself, they work harder don't they - silly me. Like much harder than someone who has to have 3 jobs just to stay afloat and a camping holiday down the road is way beyond their means because it would mean their kids went bury to school - oh wait, there are 80000 kids in NZ alone who are already going to school hungry.
About time the 90% rose up and complained isn't it?
Passages I particularly like:
Chapter 6: page 101 "There is a well-known Samoan proverb, 'O le fogava'a e tasi', which states simply that, on the boat in which we all journey, there is 'only one deck'
Chapter 8: page 130 "Unless it is accepted that New Zealand has two founding cultures, not one; unless Maori culture and identity are valued in everything government says and does; and unless they are welcomed into the very centre of the way we do things in this country, nothing will change.
Chapter 10: page 159 "a genuine blending of the Maori worldview, with its dynamic, community-grounded customs and values held in a frame of reciprocal responsibility to each other and the natural world, and the equally dynamic western model, with its technologies and capital market economy and systems of management, would have been a heady mix indeed."
[Could we not give this worldview a try now please - sounds way better than the wealth grabbing/me me me attitude/denial of man-made climate change shit we've currently sleep-walked our way into.]
Chapter 10: page 162 "These questions are a reminder that a traditional worldview, where the health of the planet and it's ecosystems comes before the rights of people to benefit individually from the commons, may have much to offer in these troubled times.
Perhaps there is again considerable value in a framework that recognises other living beings, including plants, animals and fish, as familial relations who share a reciprocal responsibility for each other's welfare. Perhaps a community model that assumes a collective responsibility for the welfare of all it's members, and then conducts itself accordingly, might help restore trust and community cohesion, and return meaning to both aspects of 'civil society'."
Chapter 13: page 204 "... The evidence from New Zealand of the benefits of high-performance approaches is significant. They include:
. Motivated staff, with greater job security and higher wages, who are able to participate in the decisions that affect them
. Greater job satisfaction and more opportunities for personal and career development in a positive and satisfying workplace
. Increased confidence, trust and openness in work relationships
. The ability to work through change and conflict constructively
. Improved employee relations and reduced workplace conflict and tension
. Improvements in work processes and service delivery
. Easier staff recruitment and increased staff retention rates
. Shared ownership of business outcomes and results and better business performance and long-term viability."
Chapter 14: page 220 "Against the idea of increasing benefits - and the support for those who receive them - are a number of arguments. The first is that a significant increase in benefits would act as a disincentive for people to seek paid work and would encourage them to remain on a benefit. While this may be valid for a very small group, the available evidence is that the work ethic is strong among beneficiaries. The indirect New Zealand evidence does not support arguments about a lack of motivation to undertake paid work; for example, benefit numbers fell when jobs were more readily available a few years ago (unemployment was just 3.8 per cent in late 2007), and hundreds of people queue up every time, for example, a supermarket is opened, even though supermarkets often provide low-paid, insecure jobs.
October 4, 2013
Brilliant- must read if you care about NZ
May 10, 2022
I found these essays a bit of a mixed bag, hence hard to rate the overall book. Some tend more toward moralising, with little economic or pragmatic supporting analysis, whereas others skew economics-experiment-y. There are good and bad examples of both in the collection. My overarching, and unsurprising, frustration was that for someone who’s already pretty convinced that inequality is a huge, generation-defining issue, there isn’t a lot in the way of solutions here. I wasn’t expecting a silver bullet, but a few more ideas and case studies would have been nice.
September 15, 2020
Very powerful book. Helps you see things you were previously ignoring in your own backyard.
June 19, 2014
This is a must read if you live or considering living in New Zealand. Inequality is a big thing in NZ. And it wont go away if we don't do anything about it. The book cover a lot of areas that should be changed to get a more equal society, and gives a lot of ideas on how to achieve the goal. Highly recommended.
December 7, 2015
Borrowed it from the college library and used it as my lunch-time reading. I now know that I am a Decile 5 single person. So many chapters I found I had to go show a friend paragraphs I was reading that lunch-time. An important book when thinking about poverty and inequality in New Zealand.
February 15, 2014
Essential reading!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews