Selling New Zealand's state assets is not a perfect solution but is the most suitable way of reducing our Government's debt in the short-term, says a trio of future economists.
Secondary school students had their chance to speak up on the asset sales programme on Friday at Massey University's annual Economics Challenge.
Officials from some key government departments heard teams of three students present of 'New Zealand's mounting debt: Are asset sales the answer?'
Winner at the Albany campus was Macleans College, which tackled precisely the type of tricky questions economists had to deal with, said judge Philip Stevens, head of economic research at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
"In economics we ask questions like why is Africa poor? Why is water, the most important thing we've got, worth less than diamonds? What services should be provided by the state?
"The questions are complicated, and the winning team used the economic tools at their disposal to weigh up the pros and cons, and then systematically arrive at their solution."
