500 Years Late: the Effects Of a Decision by a Chinese Emperor in 1432

This entry was posted in Listener, Political Economy & History on 20th April 1996 by Brian Easton.

Listener April 20, 1996

Keywords: Political Economy & History

The most important single date in New Zealand’s history is 1432, when Emperor Xuan De of China forbade the building of ships greater than 30 metres in length. A few years earlier a fleet commanded by Zheng He, with much bigger ships, had explored as far as Madagascar. The prohibition to build such ships prevented the Chinese exploration of Australasia, and their settlement of South East Asia to New Zealand. When Captain Cook arrived here 337 years later the population he met had brown rather than yellow faces. Today, 227 years after Cook, New Zealand is primarily a settlement of peoples of Polynesian and European descent.

In the Balance

This entry was posted in Listener, Macroeconomics & Money on 6th April 1996 by Brian Easton.

There Has Not Been A Balance of Payments Crisis for Over A Decade. Will Our Luck Run Out?
Listener: 6 April, 1996.

Keywords: Macroeconomics & Money;

It is that time in the economic cycle when the more experienced economists begin muttering “balance of payments crisis”, albeit with a question mark. Such crises occur when the current revenue the country obtains overseas (mainly from exports) is much less than the current payments the country makes (for imports and foreign debt servicing) to the extent that foreigners are no longer willing to lend sufficient capital to cover the deficit.