According to the OECD, New Zealand’s heavy reliance on tourism will mean a bigger COVID19 economic shock than most other OECD countries. The government’s response has been 1) quantitative easing (QE), with the Reserve Bank printing $90 billion in new money (by 2024) to purchase Treasury bonds from local and offshore financial institutions, and 2) borrowing from those same institutions ($200 billion by 2024) to provide fiscal stimulus to the economy.
Australian post-Keynesian economist Steve Keen will explore the likely ramifications of this approach, as opposed to using the Government-owned Reserve Bank. He will also discuss the big ugly elephant in the room, the massive private debt time bomb. As an added bonus, Keen will explain the mathematical models behind his findings after the general presentation.