New Zealand shouldn’t pin its hopes on copying Ireland or Singapore, argues PhD student Angus Dowell.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has often praised those two nations as models, including during the launch of Amazon Web Services’ $7.5b Auckland cloud project.

But Dowell says the comparison doesn’t stack up.

Ireland won global tech giants with low taxes and EU access, while Singapore’s growth came from massive state investment and tight control of key industries.

Neither path fits New Zealand, a mid-sized, far-flung economy where the digital sector has mostly grown to serve domestic needs.

Amazon’s new Auckland cloud centres highlight the mismatch, Dowell says.

While they may speed up local services, the bigger benefits — jobs, exports, global competitiveness — remain mostly hypothetical.

Much of Amazon’s NZ revenue is still routed through Ireland to reduce tax.

For the Hibiscus Coast, that raises questions about what these big-ticket projects really deliver.

If locals are to see genuine gains, it’ll take clear rules, fair tax, and investment that sticks here rather than flowing offshore.

Dowell argues it’s time for a grounded debate on sovereignty and regulation, instead of chasing models that don’t fit.

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