Books by Paul Spoonley

In this timely book, New Zealand's best-known commentator on population trends, Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley, shows how, as New Zealand moves into the 2020s, the demographic dividends of the last 70 years are turning into deficits. Our population patterns have been disrupted. More boomers, fewer children, an ever bigger Auckland and declining regions are the new normal. We will need new economic models, new ways of living. Spoonley says: &'It is not a crisis (even if at times it feels like it), but rather something that needs to be understood and responded to. But I fear that policy-makers and politicians are not up to the challenge. That would be a crisis.'

Loss of jobs, loss of young people, the ageing demographic, the apparently irresistible magnet of Auckland . . . the economic fortunes of New Zealand's regions are of great concern to politicians, the business community, schools, employers -- and indeed most citizens. What is the dynamic at work here? Is there a remedy? Is there a silver lining? What works? What doesn't? What are the smart regions doing that shows promise? This collection of expert articles addresses the issues facing our regions and investigates the reasons for population loss. Often those solutions involve facing up to the fact that decline is inevitable and unavoidable -- and then coming up with smart new plans and policies that accept that the end of growth does not have to mean the end of prosperity.