This paper interrogates the changing role of local government in tourism development. It does so through the examination of the Hurunui District, a rural district in New Zealand which has experienced significant transformation in the tourism sector and a concomitant increase in public sector input over the past 25 years. By situating this interrogation within an evolving neoliberal public policy context, this paper explores the tensions at play between tourism stakeholders and decision-makers, and it critiques the way in which local government involvement in the sector is manifested as regulation, promotion, and ownership of key tourism resources in the District. The significance of this paper is that it extends our understanding of the role of the state in tourism and of the influence of public policy on tourism development, potentially including sustainable tourism development. Specifically, it draws our attention to the rationality, roles and activities of public sector engagement in the tourism sector, particularly at local government level. We conclude that the nature and extent of debate evident in the case study, and verified in the literature, indicates that the boundary of government activity and intervention in the tourism market is, and will continue to be, socially contested and mediated.

New Zealand's economic policy between 1984 and 1996 is often hailed as an example of comprehensive supply-side reform that successfully improved the performance of a weak economy. In contrast, this paper presents statistical evidence to show that: (1) New Zealand sacrificed a large volume of real per capita gross domestic product after 1987; (2) its average unemployment rate increased substantially after 1988; (3) labour productivity growth declined after 1992; and (4) the per capita real income of low-income households in 1996 was more than 3% lower in absolute terms than it had been in 1984. The paper concludes that the economic reform programme did not achieve the objectives expected at its launch.

A feature of regional development in New Zealand over the last two decades has been ongoing skill shortages reported by employers at the same time as unemployment has been relatively high. This paper addresses that issue with findings from a five-year trans-disciplinary research programme on education employment linkages for young people. The author’s contribution to that programme focused on employer-led channels at the regional level, investigating how employment opportunities and requirements in a region are communicated to young people as they make education choices. This paper pays particular attention to the role of career offices in post-school education institution, drawing on the skill ecosystem metaphor introduced initially by David Finegold in 1999 and developed more recently by the NSW Board of Vocational Education and Training in Australia in collaboration with a research team led by John Buchanan at the University of Sydney.

Marilyn Waring’s If Women Counted (1988) shows how national income accounting became infused with the patriarchal values dominant during its post–World War II development. This article revisits Waring’s analysis in the light of continued support of gross domestic product as a useful statistic. It explains the historical and personal context for her analysis, emphasizing postwar patriarchal values as well as Waring’s experience as a Member of the New Zealand Parliament (1975–84) and her active engagement with women in developed and developing countries. It illustrates the support If Women Counted gives to reformers and recognizes that change has occurred, including provision for satellite accounts in the United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA). Nevertheless, the paper concludes that Waring’s profound challenge to the central framework of UNSNA will continue as long as the system excludes unpaid household work and impacts on the natural environment from its core statistics.

(1996). The Keynesian Multiplier, Liquidity Preference, and Endogenous Money. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics: Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 311-331.