page_title: Rogernomics
section_title: Douglas and the development of economic policy, 1969–1983
hierarchical_section_title: Rogernomics / Douglas and the development of economic policy, 1969–1983
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Roger Douglas as a member of the Manukau City Council.
context_page_description: The term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics", was coined by journalists at the New Zealand Listener by analogy with Reaganomics to describe the neoliberal economic policies followed by Roger Douglas. Douglas was Minister of Finance in the Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand, 26 July 1984 to 2 November 1990. Rogernomics was characterised by market-led restructuring and deregulation and the control of inflation through tight monetary policy, accompanied by a floating exchange rate and reductions in the fiscal deficit. Douglas came from a background of Labour Party politics. His adoption of policies more usually associated with the political right, and their implementation by the Fourth Labour Government, were the subject of lasting controversy.
context_section_description: Douglas became a Labour Member of Parliament at the 1969 general election. He showed his interest in economic policy in his maiden speech, in which he argued against foreign investment in the domestic economy. His case for external protection of the domestic economy and government involvement in investment was characteristic of the Labour Party of the time. From 1972 to 1975, Douglas was a junior minister in the Third Labour Government, where he won a reputation for his capacity for innovation. This government followed a broadly Keynesian approach to economic management.
  As a minister, Douglas was innovative in the context of the public sector. As Broadcasting Minister he devised an administrative structure in which two publicly owned television channels competed against each other. He was among the government’s leading advocates of compulsory saving for retirement, which he saw not only as a supplement to public provision for retirement but as a source of funding for public investment in economic development. The superannuation scheme he helped design became law in 1974, but was disestablished by Robert Muldoon almost as soon as the National Party won the 1975 election.
  Douglas maintained his interest in economic issues in opposition. He framed his chief concern as the deep-seated problems in the structure of the economy that had contributed to deteriorating economic performance, and a standard of living that was slipping in comparison to that of other developed countries. In 1980, he described New Zealand as a country living on borrowed money, unable – in spite of the record efforts of its exporters – to pay its own way in the world.
  From a neoliberal point of view which promotes small government, balanced budgets and inflation targeting, the economic policy of successive governments had left the domestic economy sheltered and unresponsive to consumers; inflation, which was more than ten per cent a year throughout the 1970s, was high by the standards of the country's major trading partners; and there was a persistent fiscal deficit. It was thought a large part of the economy was controlled by regulation, some arbitrary or inconsistent. The post-war political consensus had produced stability but Douglas viewed this as being at the cost of innovation. Both major political parties maintained the high levels of protection introduced by the First Labour Government from 1936 onwards, and since 1945 both parties had aimed at maintaining full employment. However, beneficiaries of the regulated economy had flourished in both public and private sectors.
  Douglas argued that only radical action would improve the economic outlook. In 1980, he published an "Alternative Budget" that attacked what Douglas called the Muldoon government's "tinkering" with the economy. He wrote that twenty years of pandering to entrenched interests had dampened productive investment. The Labour leadership saw his proposals and their unauthorised publication as unfavourable comment on Labour policy. The Labour leader Bill Rowling publicly rebuked Douglas. Douglas then published his thinking in the form of a book. Alongside far-reaching proposals for reform of taxation and government spending, it advocated a twenty per cent devaluation of the dollar to increase the competitiveness of exports. Although radical, it took an eclectic approach and did not hint at the abandonment of Labour's Keynesian policy framework.
  Douglas became increasingly frustrated by what he saw as the Labour Party's reluctance to deal with fundamental issues of economic policy. He claimed in 1981 that Labour had an image as a party that would promise the public anything to be elected. He argued that the party should agree on its economic policy before it agreed on anything else, and allow economic reality to play a part in its decision-making. Unable to convince Rowling of the merit of his case, a disillusioned Douglas decided to stand down from parliament at the 1981 election. One of those who persuaded him to stay was Labour’s deputy leader David Lange, who offered to make Douglas m
caption: Roger Douglas in 1965
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