Reflections on Not In Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand 2

Abstract

Studying history helps us to understand the present—how did we get to where we are today? In this sense, Brian’s book reads to me as an attempt to answer the question: where on earth did Rogernomics come from? Was it an organic, logical product of the past course of New Zealand society and economy or was it a temporary and ultimately unsustainable ideological capture of the state in what Bruce Jesson (cited by Brian on p. 99 of his book) called a “hollow society” lacking checks and balances?