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At the turn of the century, telecommuting was a big buzz word in IT and management circles. Many white-collar workers wondered if the days of commuting into the office five days a week were numbered. But while communication and remote access technology has matured considerably over the last decade, most of us seem unwilling or unable to make the switch and start predominately working from home.

Compulsory saving has been raised as a solution to New Zealand’s perceived saving problem. Last week my colleague discussed how compulsory saving is a blunt tool for solving any perceived failure in credit markets. This is an important point, one that I wish to expand upon this week.

The Government is flying the compulsory saving kite to test public opinion on the matter. I suppose it was inevitable given the crescendo of vested interest pleadings from the fund management industry. I have previously written in this column on evidence that suggests that compulsory saving is not a panacea for low national savings. I will not repeat the arguments in this article. I will instead focus on the other reason many proponents give for this policy – that compulsory saving will boost the capital available for domestic investment. Of the common arguments for making saving compulsory this is the most spurious.

Canterbury researchers have recently announced plans to build a robot that prunes grape vines. With unemployment currently at high levels any innovation that saves labour is likely to be met with some scepticism. But we need to look beyond our current circumstances. Innovation improves productivity and competitiveness which drives economic growth, which in turn fuels improvements in living standards. The Canterbury project is an outstanding model of how to bridge the divide between industry needs and academic research and become more productive and therefore more competitive.

In the fifteen years from 1994 to 2009 the size of the New Zealand economy expanded by 58%. This represents an average annual growth rate of 3.1%, which sounds quite impressive if one compares this with the 29% (1.7% pa) growth experienced in the prior fifteen year period to 1994. It does not appear so impressive when one considers that the Australian economy expanded by 71% (3.6% pa) from 1994 to 2009 and this was after growing by 55% (3.0% pa) in the fifteen years to 1994. Not only have we failed to catch up, the gap has actually continued to widen.

Isobel Tarrant was the greatest Nana anyone could ask for. Every morning of the school holidays she would produce faultlessly poached eggs to a standard that would beguile even the best Wellington cafes. She would look at you mischievously when she caught you with your hand in the cookie jar. And most of all she saw nothing but the best in her 15 grandchildren, and showered them all with a relentless torrent of love.

Left unchecked crime would create winners (criminals) and losers (victims), a fact which has obvious equity implications. But crime also has economic costs, not just to victims but to society as a whole. The vast majority of crimes do not simply involve a transfer of wealth or enjoyment from one person to another, but a net loss to society.

Prices are vexing things.  As a buyer it often feels like you’re being charged too much, as a seller it seems like people are unfairly trying to push your prices down, and finally as a government official you may think the price of something is just wrong.  Oft times it feels as if prices appear by magic, and as a result individuals and groups are comfortable complaining that prices should be higher, lower, or at least less volatile.  However, prices aren’t as magical as they first appear – and trying to understand the process of pricing can help us get to grips with what good and bad government policies should look like.

During the last few weeks many interest groups have criticised the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) for making us all poorer. There seems, however, to be considerable confusion between New Zealand’s commitment under the Kyoto Protocol and the ETS. It is the former that imposes an economic cost; the latter is a way of meeting that cost.

Enock Mamwambo has been stockpiling goats in anticipation of the Soccer World Cup. He sells his wire and bead animals at the Pretoria Farmers Market and like so many small business owners was hoping for a bonanza from the inflow of tourists. Nearly three weeks into the tournament he has sold only two of the 23 animals he spent six months making.