21 Sep 2020

Economist on 'zombie towns' thriving in pandemic

From Morning Report, 6:13 am on 21 September 2020

Famously labelled zombie towns, regional centres are bearing up well through the Covid-19 crisis off the back of the strong rural economy and extremely low case numbers.

They are also having new life breathed into them via the hundreds of millions of dollars being dolled out by the Government through both the Provincial Growth Fund and Shovel-Ready investments.

Even economist Shamubeel Eaqub, who coined the term, concedes the pandemic is proving how resilient regional towns are.

He spoke to RNZ reporter Robin Martin who began by asking him where he stood on zombie town now.