Business School
Presentations
Members of the Retirement Policy and Research Centre (RPRC) have produced a variety of presentations. Details of past presentations are available by following the page links by year.
Copies of presentations are available to view in PDF format from the Other publications database by Publication type: Papers and presentations.
Search for copies of RPRC presentations from the Other publications database
Accounting for the government: Is GAAP a step forward or a step back?
6 March 2012. Associate Professor Sue Newberry, The University of Sydney, questions the validity of the GAAP approach for a government’s accounts. Has line by line accounting improved the New Zealand accounts? Has it improved transparency, or has it created a façade of transparency that does not tell us what we need to know.
When financial advice goes wrong
9 February 2012. Aaron Bruhn, Australian National University, presents recent research on the impact of financial devastation on individual investors of inappropriate financial advice. The case study is based on the failure of "Storm", a Queensland-based investment company.
Universal pensions: The case for New Zealand
27 November 2011. Michael Littlewood gave a presentation to a conference run by the Alliance for Universal Pensions (Hong Kong). The presentation looked at the New Zealand experience with New Zealand Superannuation. Michael also took part in a question & answer session at the Legislative Council the following day.
ACC Forum: The future of ACC
26 August 2011. Is New Zealand in danger of losing both what is best about the ACC scheme, and our place as a world leader in accident compensation? What can be done?
Preparing for the health and long-term care costs of an ageing population in New Zealand
14-15 July 2011. Presentation by Susan St John and Claire Dale at the 19th Annual Colloquium of Superannuation Researchers Centre for Pensions and Superannuation at UNSW: Financing the retirement needs of an ageing population.
Reflecting on the May budgets, the recession, and labour markets in New Zealand and Australia
27 May 2011. The financial crisis has pushed all government budgets further into deficit. More recently, governments in New Zealand and Australia have faced new fiscal challenges arising out of natural disasters. The result is weakening budget positions.
Welfare reform: Alternative views on the options
26 November 2010. Presentation by Susan St John to Institute of Policy Studies, University of Victoria Wellington.
Forum: Family policy, care of children and social inclusion
25 October 2010. Presentation to Brotherhood of St Laurence Melbourne: The New Zealand experience by Susan St John.
What is it with compulsory saving?
20 September 2010. Michael Littlewood gave a presentation to the Law and Economics Association (LEANZ) in Wellington.
Welfare forum: Rethinking welfare for the 21st century
10 September 2010. The Government appointed a Welfare Working Group in April 2010 to conduct a wide-ranging and fundamental review of New Zealand's welfare system, and make practical recommendations to improve the economic and social outcomes for beneficiaries and New Zealand as a whole. The aim of this Welfare Forum is to move beyond the narrow terms of reference of the Welfare Working Group, and make recommendations that recognise the current economic climate, and foreground the needs of children.
Why not just fix child poverty?
30 August 2010. At the Fabian society meeting Susan St John and Sue Bradford examined poverty and welfare in New Zealand. Susan St John challenged simplistic thinking on the left concerning their "lazy" endorsement of universal child benefits as the answer and raised issues for the left around their condoning of the complex and discriminatory Working for families tax credits.
New Zealand superannuation and overseas pensions forum series: Issues and principles for reform
25 August 2010, Wellington. Abatement of overseas, state-administered, contributory pensions has caused distress for many New Zealand immigrants as evidenced by complaints to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), the Courts, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), the Retirement Policy and Research Centre (RPRC), the media, and the embassies of the origin countries for the pensions.
14-15 July Kuala Lumpur – Employees' Provident Fund conference
The RPRC's Michael Littlewood gave two presentations at a conference in Kuala Lumpur organised by the Malaysian Employees' Provident Fund (the local compulsory retirement savings scheme).
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Pre-funding New Zealand superannuation
This first presentation, Best practice in smoothing the tax burden: The New Zealand experience, explained how New Zealand approached the partial pre-funding of state pension entitlements through the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZSF). It summarised the findings of an article published in the New Zealand Economic Papers*, suggesting that the NZSF had cost New Zealand's taxpayers about $2.6 billion in the nearly six years to 30 June 2009. Michael suggested that the NZSF gave Malaysia an example that it should not follow.
*Pre-funding a government's future financial obligations – the New Zealand Superannuation case study. New Zealand Economic Papers, Volume 44, Issue 1, 2010. (Taylor & Francis online).
View the New Zealand Economics Papers article
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New Zealand's national financial literacy strategy
The second paper, National strategy for financial literacy and retirement savings, looked at New Zealand's national financial literacy strategy. New Zealand is one of the few countries to have carried out a survey on financial literacy standards. The first of these surveys took place in 2006 and a follow-up was run in 2009. Michael suggested that Malaysia could emulate New Zealand's work in this area if it wanted a better understanding of the success (or otherwise) of the compulsory Employees' Provident Fund.
New Zealand superannuation and overseas pensions forum series: Options for reform
24 February 2010, Auckland. Rosslyn Noonan, Chief Commissioner, the Human Rights Commission, opened the Forum and launched RPRC’s Working Papers: 2009-1 Literature Review; and 2009-2 New Zealand Superannuation and Overseas Pensions: Issues and Principles for Reform. Her opening address included an urge to action for change to the inequitable current pension policy.
Unemployment insurance seminar: Beware the “insurance” model for unemployment benefits - Cautionary evidence from the Canadian experience
24 June 2010. Dr Jim Stanford (Canadian Auto Workers Union, Toronto, Canada) reviewed the recent experience of Canada's Employment Insurance programme, and considered the advantages and weaknesses of its conception as an "insurance" scheme. This experience is relevant in light of proposals to restructure New Zealand's unemployment benefit system.
ACC forum: ACC debate - How do we pay for the ACC?
15 December 2009. In the late 1990s, it was decided that ACC should become fully pre-funded. The ACC Forum focussed primarily on the merits of alternative methods of funding ACC to ensure the survival of this unique social insurance scheme.
Super futures?
5 September 2009. Susan St John. The AGM Government Superannuitants Association (GSA). GSA Newsletter No. 80.
Social insurance and the ACC Summit
29–30 June 2009. At the Summit: Reviewing New Zealand's Accident Compensation System, in Wellington, 29–30 June 2009, presenters from America, Australia and New Zealand compared the different countries' public and private insurance compensation systems. The summit was particularly relevant to the work of the RPRC because of the current challenges around pre-funding the ACC. This issue has been made more controversial as the National-led government chose to suspend payments to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund in 2009 until further notice.
The two RPRC presentations examined the case for relaxing the requirement of full funding of ACC, arguing that is not required in social insurance schemes. While PAYG may in principle suffice, the historical context suggests a multi-party compromise is also necessary. Michael Littlewood assessed the technical case for fully funding ACC while Susan St John outlined the history of pre-funding and the lessons of that history for current policy.
Social statistics data workshop
10 June 2009. This was a unique opportunity for staff and postgraduate students to interact with Statistics New Zealand and to get hands-on assistance and provide feedback on the use of statistics data sets in a way that is usually only possible in Wellington.
RPRC tax symposium: Tax, saving, welfare and retirement
16 July 2009. The symposium examined specific issues relating to the welfare/tax interface, saving and retirement, and whether New Zealand might re-establish a more neutral and simpler regime based on the accepted principles of the previous decade.
