Overview of this research workstream

This research workstream keeps focuses on measuring and evaluating the state of New Zealand, becoming a one-stop-shop of respected and reliable information and analysis on the state of the country. It produces robust information and analysis on the strengths and weaknesses of nation, with special attention to evaluating Democracy, Equality, Integrity, Environment and Wellbeing in New Zealand.

It does this through keeping up to date on how New Zealand fares in comparison to other countries. It also creates new measures and ways of evaluating the “health of the nation”.

A key focus of the research will be on “policy beneficiaries” – an ongoing compendium of who has gained from government decisions. It puts out evaluations about who is benefitting and losing from politics and especially from the operations of vested interest.

An early focus of this workstream will also be on explaining the ways in which New Zealand is broken or in decline, and the role in which vested interests, and oligarchical business interests in particular, have captured the state and policy makers to produce conditions favourable to individual businesses but which isn’t in the public interest.