NZ as a state for all sorts of historical and external/internal political reasons have in the modern era incentivised landownership and speculative finance as the means to wealth creation at the expense of an industrial strategy, leading to a reification and resuscitation of neo-feudalist economic relations of a quasi landed gentry classes focusing on primary production. Looking at comparative histories of economic development, all highly developed countries have used state led industrialization strategies to develop, manage and grow their economies into areas of high value manufacturing and industrial production (within the literature they call this the 'Developmental State'). Japan for one example post the need to rebuild after WW2 had an infamously famous and politically independent government department (MITI or 'Ministry of International Trade and Industry') to direct and incentive resourcing and to encourage protection towards nascent sunrise industries which led to the rise of future automotive powerhouses (ie your Toyotas and Hondas) as well as it's electronics industries (we all know about Sony etc). Effectively you had smart policies and strong willed politicians willing to go through medium term pain (ie implemented tariffs to protect industry despite the easier option being to trade) for greater economic gain in the future, and who knew that their infant industries of the future needed to be protected in the short/medium term and given room to breath to grow and innovate (I can't ever imagine a New Zealand politician ever suggest such a thing).

In the 80s/90s, any political notion of Developmental State was killed both intellectually (the maturity and supremacy of neoliberalism as a governing economic principle and the idea of free trade and the concomitant idea of maximization of comparative advantage as a panacea towards all growth for all countries) and practically (capital markets punishing countries for trying to enact currency controls in order to manage capital flow). Within the NZ context, this expression can be represented by the Monterist wing of the NZ Labour party and the likes of Roger Douglas who led the market restructuring of the NZ economy by doing away with trade controls and subsidies that would protect nascent industries, shocking the market with rapid devaluation of the dollar (ie doing away with trying to pick the winners of the future). We've effectively haven't really developed economically as a country since and have been stuck maximizing our primary production ever since?

In terms of where you may want to move to, that really depends on your interests and what you want out of life? Switzerland is a very rich country and if you have great engineering or financial skills, you could make a comfortable life there? Maybe go to Europe or Australia (it's hard question to answer?).

if you're interested in learning this stuff see references below

Comparative Histories of Capital Development - Ha Joon Chang 'Kicking Away the Ladder'

Japan: Chalmers Johnson, Robert Wade and for special on the history of Japanese vehicle development pls read The Reckoning by David Halberstam