New Zealand's Economy
The Wellbeing Budget
How New Zealand's 2019 Wellbeing Budget tried to measure success beyond GDP, prioritising mental health and child poverty, and debates over its impact.
In 2019, New Zealand presented a Wellbeing Budget.
The idea
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government aimed to judge success beyond GDP.
Priorities
- Mental health.
- Child poverty.
- Indigenous wellbeing.
- Climate transition.
Tools
The Treasury’s Living Standards Framework tracks wellbeing indicators.
Child poverty law
The Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 requires governments to set and report targets.
Debate
- Supporters: a better guide to policy.
- Critics: hard to measure; the approach was dropped by later governments’ budgets.
The mental health funding
The 2019 budget funded frontline mental health services in schools and clinics.
Thinking GDP measures everything that matters
Wellbeing budgets try to capture more.
Key takeaways
- The 2019 Wellbeing Budget looked beyond GDP.
- It prioritised mental health and child poverty.
- The Living Standards Framework tracks wellbeing.
- Later governments moved away from the label.
No recording for this one yet - EconReader can read it aloud for you.