Raising Maori and Pacific Islander educational performance provides a significant opportunity for improving New Zealand’s growth prospects. And the threat to social cohesion – and, hence, to the capacity of the country to adapt and grow – is equally real if, as a nation, we fail on this count.
A key aspect of any successful growth strategy will be openness to international trade and a thoroughgoing integration into the global economy. When so much about growth is uncertain, this is one area in which economists find relatively little to dispute, particularly for a small country such as New Zealand.