26 July 2018

The latest Living Standards Series discussion papers published by the Treasury continue its focus on promoting and supporting conversations about wellbeing, says Secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf.

The three papers published today are:
• The Start of a Conversation on the Value of New Zealand’s Financial/Physical Capital
• Resilience and Future Wellbeing: The Start of a Conversation on Improving the Risk Management and Resilience of the Living Standards Capitals
• The Relationship between the Living Standards Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals

The first of these papers completes the ‘start of a conversation’ on the four capitals of the Living Standards Framework, addressing the various indicators of Financial/Physical capital for the purposes of a Living Standards Dashboard (papers addressing Human, Natural and Social Capital were published in February of this year).

The second of these papers takes a first look at identifying factors of risk and resilience for each of the four capitals and comments, from a neutral standpoint, on several high-profile risks with the intention of generating well-considered discussion.

The third paper provides the author’s answer to a question often asked of the Treasury. While there are conceptual differences between the SDGs (a set of policy goals) and the Living Standards Framework (a framework for thinking about wellbeing), this paper argues that there is a large degree of overlap.

Over the coming month, the Treasury will release a further four papers in the Living Standards series to focus on the role of culture within the Living Standards Framework.

Makhlouf says, “Wellbeing is closely linked to culture, and the role of culture within the Living Standards Framework is a key and ongoing question. These papers will outline areas of culture that may need to be considered by the Framework, and look at wellbeing in the context of Pacific, te ao Māori and Asian perspectives.”

Te Puni Kōkiri Toihautū Michelle Hippolite says Te Puni Kōkiri is pleased to have collaborated with the Treasury on providing a Te Ao Māori discussion paper on the Living Standards Framework. "We see it is a great starting point for further discussion on Māori wellbeing with the Treasury and the public sector.”

Part of a programme of Treasury work to further develop its Living Standards Framework, the Living Standards series of discussion papers provides an overview of international and academic work across a diverse range of topics relating to wellbeing, with the aim of stimulating thinking and conversations. These papers do not represent the Treasury’s position on measuring intergenerational wellbeing and its sustainability in New Zealand.

The Living Standards Series of discussion papers can be found on the Treasury’s website here: https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/living-standards/most-recent-papers

We welcome comments on these papers to cea@treasury.govt.nz

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