Should the Reserve Bank target employment as well as inflation? Will the new government abolish the dual mandate?

Back in 1989 – near the end of the fourth Labour government – the inflation-busting Reserve Bank Act was passed.

Labour has shifted well away from the Rogernomics of that decade, and in 2021 Grant Robertson added maximum sustainable employment to the bank’s mandate - with the support of coalition partner NZ First.

Our Reserve Bank joined a powerful grouping of banks that have dual mandates, including the US Federal Reserve, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

Going into the 2023 election, National and ACT committed to a return to the 1989 objective.  Will they take us out of the meainstream and into a straitjacked rather than a life-jacket? And how does it square with their stated aim of getting people off the dole and back to work?

The participants in our Fabian panel will be:

• Grant Robertson – former Finance Minister and the architect of the dual mandate
• Nona Pelletier – Radio New Zealand’s senior business journalist
• Liam Dann – the NZ Herald’s business editor at large
• Panel chair is Chris Eichbaum, former Reserve Bank board member.

7.00 – 8.00 pm, on 11 December 20123

Joim us through the following link:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4345522159?omn=86749093204

Meeting ID: 434 552 2159

It will also be restreamed onto YouTube:

https://youtube.com/live/PDHpFnOkgcI?feature=share