Economics of pastoral development in the Upper Waitaki

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to integrate available information on the pastoral agriculture of the Upper Waitaki in an economic framework, with the particular aim of illuminating developmental possibilities. Such possibilities are examined in terms of their private profitability to the individual run-holder and in terms of the costs and benefits accruing to New Zealand as a whole. Public policies involved in development in the Upper Waitaki are examined and the distributional aspects of such policies are noted when they appear especially uneven. For the most part the discussion will be based on the assumption (common to most economic studies) that the main objectives of development are the creation of private wealth and the enhancement of aggregate national income.