The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the economic aspects of resource development and to suggest the need for the overall planning of development in New Zealand, and for a more systematic approach to the assessment of individual projects. This will necessitate the use of some of the recently developed techniques of applied economics or operational research. As a background, it is necessary to draw attention to two significant changes which have taken place in the economic philosophy of the Western world during the last decade and which will probably influence New Zealand's political economy during the next. These are the concepts of economic growth and of indicative planning.

Paper submitted to the Fourth N.Z. Geography Conference, New Zealand Geographical Society (Inc.) Dunedin 1965.