In 1971, Don Brash, the governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 1988 to 2002, bought a house for NZ$43,000. The same year, an elderly uncle of Brash’s invested the proceeds from selling his fruit farm in 18-year government bonds yielding 5.4 per cent. At that time, the uncle’s NZ$30,000 could buy 11 four-cylinder cars.
Brash’s uncle died in the meantime, but when the bonds matured in 1989 the NZ$30,000 could buy only one of those cars.
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