New Zealand remains a staunch adherent to neoliberal beliefs about the economy – an approach sometimes characterised as “trickle-down economics” and sometimes as privatisation and plunder.

Maybe it’s time to rethink our economy, what we want from it and change the thinking behind government budgets and spending.

Shamubeel Eaqub is chief economist at Simplicity and an author, media commentator and a thought-leading speaker. He has more than two decades of experience in Wellington, Melbourne and Auckland in international banks and consultancies.

Chlöe Swarbrick is the Co-Leader of the Green Party, and also the Party’s spokesperson for Finance and Revenue. She was the first politician to be interviewed on the UK podcast Gary’s Economics (check it out). Last year, the Greens produced their own fiscal strategy and their own draft budget to show how we can do things differently.