Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF AUTHORS
- LIST OF FIGURES
- LIST OF TABLES
- PREFACE
- 1 AN OVERVIEW
- 2 THE AUSTRALIAN RECOVERY OF THE 1930s IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
- 3 THE RECOVERY OF THE 1930s AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN BRITAIN
- 4 A MACRO INTERPRETATION OF RECOVERY: AUSTRALIA AND CANADA
- 5 DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN NEW ZEALAND
- 6 THE JAPANESE ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE 1930s
- 7 THE BATTLE OF THE PLANS: A MACROECONOMETRIC MODEL OF THE INTERWAR ECONOMY
- 8 AUSTRALIAN BUDGETARY POLICIES IN THE 1930s
- 9 MONETARY POLICY IN DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY
- 10 SHARING THE BURDEN: THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET DURING THE 1930s
- 11 MANUFACTURING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA, 1932–1937
- 12 AGRICULTURE AND THE RECOVERY FROM THE DEPRESSION
- 13 UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF THE 1930s
- 14 GOVERNMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF IN THE 1930s: AID OR HINDRANCE TO RECOVERY?
- 15 UNEQUAL SACRIFICE: DISTRIBUTIONAL ASPECTS OF DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
5 - DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN NEW ZEALAND
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- LIST OF AUTHORS
- LIST OF FIGURES
- LIST OF TABLES
- PREFACE
- 1 AN OVERVIEW
- 2 THE AUSTRALIAN RECOVERY OF THE 1930s IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
- 3 THE RECOVERY OF THE 1930s AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN BRITAIN
- 4 A MACRO INTERPRETATION OF RECOVERY: AUSTRALIA AND CANADA
- 5 DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN NEW ZEALAND
- 6 THE JAPANESE ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC POLICY IN THE 1930s
- 7 THE BATTLE OF THE PLANS: A MACROECONOMETRIC MODEL OF THE INTERWAR ECONOMY
- 8 AUSTRALIAN BUDGETARY POLICIES IN THE 1930s
- 9 MONETARY POLICY IN DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY
- 10 SHARING THE BURDEN: THE AUSTRALIAN LABOUR MARKET DURING THE 1930s
- 11 MANUFACTURING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA, 1932–1937
- 12 AGRICULTURE AND THE RECOVERY FROM THE DEPRESSION
- 13 UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC RECOVERY OF THE 1930s
- 14 GOVERNMENT UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF IN THE 1930s: AID OR HINDRANCE TO RECOVERY?
- 15 UNEQUAL SACRIFICE: DISTRIBUTIONAL ASPECTS OF DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY IN AUSTRALIA
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
Summary
Depression in New Zealand
The depression of the 1930s was a significant event in New Zealand's political and social development. The best available estimates of GDP suggest a fall of up to 30 per cent in current price terms. Prices were also falling, offsetting the decline in money incomes to some extent, and real incomes dropped by an average of somewhere between 10 and 20 percent—about the same as in Australia, greater than in Britain where the peak of 1929 was less pronounced than in most countries, and smaller than in the United States and Germany.
The estimates underlying these judgments are of output produced rather than of income enjoyed. In an international perspective, industrial production generally fell but the prices of industrial products were inflexible; agricultural production was more constant or even increased while the prices of agricultural products declined markedly. When consumption rather than output is the criterion, the disparity of depression experience in Australia and North America is much reduced (Schedvin 1970a, pp. 43–6), and the same is true of New Zealand.
The depression was transmitted to New Zealand through export prices and there was a period in the early 1930s when the balance of payments position seemed critical. But as explained later, this was short-lived as imports were so reduced that external assets were built up during most of the depression years. The reduction in incomes, however, spread through the community and resulted in unemployment levels which were unprecedented for New Zealand, although not high by some overseas standards. The reactions of industries varied, as is explored later, and unemployment affected certain industries and occupations more than others.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Recovery from the DepressionAustralia and the World Economy in the 1930s, pp. 113 - 134Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
- 1
- Cited by