Understanding our performance
[ Last Updated 15 August 2008 ]
Implementation
The report Growth through Innovation: Progress to Date summarises the progress made in implementing the Growth and Innovation Framework (GIF) since 2000. It provides a brief discussion of the scope of the strategy, a summary of the current state of the economy and of the role of policies that support innovation, and summaries of actions in the five key areas of the strategy since 2000 along with assessments of their impacts.
Benchmarking
Economic Development Indicators 2005 report looks at how New Zealand's economy has been performing recently compared to other OECD countries. It's about giving us the best possible information about New Zealand's current position. In identifying where we're doing well and where our challenges lie, these indicators help provide a sounder basis for decisions – at national, sectoral, regional and firm level – aimed at improving economic performance.
Economic indicators can assist with several important objectives. They can help:
- monitor progress and benchmark our performance against that of other countries
- evaluate the effectiveness of economic policy
- identify areas for policy consideration or intervention.
The key finding from the Economic Development Indicators 2005 report is that the New Zealand economy has performed well over the last few years. On the basis of gross domestic product per capita, in 2003 New Zealand was 20th out of the 30 OECD member countries. This is one place higher than in 2001.
The report's purpose is to inform future economic policy and as part of that, provide a basis for engaging with New Zealanders on how we can further improve our economic performance.
Key indicators
The 2005 indicators report updates and expands on the benchmark indicators report published in 2003. We have included a wider range of productivity and growth determinants than in the first report. As well as a continued focus on the GIF themes of innovation, skills and talent, and international connections, we have incorporated additional indicators for areas such as labour utilisation, the quality of regulation, and entrepreneurial activity, as well as indicators of macroeconomic stability and performance. As a result, the indicators now also reflect the foundations of a well-performing economy.
The 2005 economic indicators fall into four broad areas:
- outcome indicators
- components of material living standards
- intermediate indicators of the "drivers" of productivity and growth
- foundation indicators.
This chart shows the current direction of changes in key economic development indicators and how New Zealand rates against other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. These indicators are discussed more comprehensively in the Economic Development Indicators 2005 report.
Future development
The government is preparing a broad suite of indicators covering social, economic, cultural and environmental outcomes. The Economic Development Indicators 2005 report presents the economic development dimension of that work.
Most of the individual indicators are updated periodically as more up-to-date data becomes available. Another collated set of the indicators is likely in two or three years once sufficient time has passed to allow a worthwhile assessment of overall progress.
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