Education is the foundation of our economy, indeed, of our society. Teachers have always been tasked with nurturing and overseeing our most valuable national resource. It is the highest call within the higher calling of public service.
They can be proxies for broader considerations such as the strength of the economy and the expected returns from investing in New Zealand that investors compare against other international investment alternatives. Even allowing for New Zealand’s economic outperformance relative to most advanced economies, New Zealand’s real effective exchange rate is above the level that can be justified.