In New Zealand, business confidence has remained relatively low since 2017. In our latest round of visits across the country, businesses cited a number of domestic factors driving subdued confidence, including uncertainty around environmental policy, infrastructure, regulation and access to finance.14  12 See Orr (2019). 13 See Dixit and Pindyck (1994) for a discussion of business investment under uncertainty.
And, as I will discuss momentarily, actual and prospective changes in the regulatory landscape have also raised concerns among community bankers. The good news is that, for the most part, community banks appear to be meeting their challenges.