Path Dependency or Path Creation? Transitions in Policy Ideas and Reform Strategies in Contemporary New Zealand Pension Politics
type: CreativeWork
description: This study investigates the uniqueness of New Zealand's pension system—a system that, for over a century, has predominantly relied on the first pillar of public pension for retirement income. It aims to uncover the underlying reasons and logic for this approach and to draw lessons for the evolution of welfare systems worldwide. Previous research has examined the issue of path dependency in welfare states but has not fully explained the peculiar phenomena of New Zealand's pension system, its diversity in development, and autonomous choices. Therefore, this paper explores the unique development path of New Zealand's pension system through institutional and cultural ideological factors. The study focuses on the privatization elements in the evolution of New Zealand's pension system, particularly the KiwiSaver scheme, to examine whether it represents a breakthrough in traditional path dependency. Adopting historical institutionalism as the theoretical framework and utilizing case studies, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews, this research deeply analyses the perspectives of 14 key figures involved in New Zealand's pension reform, including politicians, representatives of unions and employer organisations, financial industry representatives, advocates for the elderly, and academic experts. The core findings revolve around an in-depth analysis of the KiwiSaver scheme. Although the scheme established observable additional pillars in the pension system, it did not break the fundamental logic and policy paradigm of the pension system according to Hall's framework of policy change, thus cannot be considered as path creation. Moreover, the pension system in New Zealand is not entirely a result of path dependency but a combination of rational choice considerations, reflecting the government's strategic response to different pension political ecologies and embodying the country's autonomy in welfare state development against the backdrop of globalization. The study…
abstract: This study investigates the uniqueness of New Zealand's pension system—a system that, for over a century, has predominantly relied on the first pillar of public pension for retirement income. It aims to uncover the underlying reasons and logic for this approach and to draw lessons for the evolution of welfare systems worldwide. Previous research has examined the issue of path dependency in welfare states but has not fully explained the peculiar phenomena of New Zealand's pension system, its diversity in development, and autonomous choices. Therefore, this paper explores the unique development path of New Zealand's pension system through institutional and cultural ideological factors. The study focuses on the privatization elements in the evolution of New Zealand's pension system, particularly the KiwiSaver scheme, to examine whether it represents a breakthrough in traditional path dependency. Adopting historical institutionalism as the theoretical framework and utilizing case studies, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews, this research deeply analyses the perspectives of 14 key figures involved in New Zealand's pension reform, including politicians, representatives of unions and employer organisations, financial industry representatives, advocates for the elderly, and academic experts. The core findings revolve around an in-depth analysis of the KiwiSaver scheme. Although the scheme established observable additional pillars in the pension system, it did not break the fundamental logic and policy paradigm of the pension system according to Hall's framework of policy change, thus cannot be considered as path creation. Moreover, the pension system in New Zealand is not entirely a result of path dependency but a combination of rational choice considerations, reflecting the government's strategic response to different pension political ecologies and embodying the country's autonomy in welfare state development against the backdrop of globalization. The study…
author: Li, Zenan
license: https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm
date published: 2024
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:03:37Z
provider: University of Auckland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: ResearchSpace@Auckland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2292/70090