Kiwi here - spent the first 25 years of my life in NZ (Taranaki and Wellington) but relocated to the USA (a year in the Bay Area, then just outside Seattle sinc

Kiwi here - spent the first 25 years of my life in NZ (Taranaki and Wellington) but relocated to the USA (a year in the Bay Area, then just outside Seattle since 2007). A few observations of factors that may be considered: - Distance from markets impacts competitiveness of exports - Distance from world / experience / culture / opportunities leads to exodus of young travelers (see "the Big OE", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_experience http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_experience) and braindrain - "Tall-poppy syndrome" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome) reduces visibility of or desire for success - "She'll be right" culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She'll_be_right); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She'll_be_right); apathetic, relaxed, or optimistic? NZ has a very strong entrepreneurial culture but perhaps the challenges above or wrong choice of markets to target make that less effective econony-wise than it could be? There's an interesting read on that at http://pando.com/2013/05/14/number-8-wire-entrepreneurialism-how-a-cultural-myth-can-inspire-a-country/ http://pando.com/2013/05/14/number-8-wire-entrepreneurialism....