Science Media Centre

A report launched today by the business initiative Pure Advantage lays out a number of opportunities to boost New Zealand’s economy through ‘green growth’. Produced by London-based consultancy Vivid Economics in conjunction with the University of Auckland, the report outlines a number of  opportunities for industry and government build a better economy through environmentally conscious [...]

A major report into ‘green growth opportunities’ for New Zealand, outlining actions for industry and government to apply across several key economic sectors, was launched today at events in Auckland and Wellington. The report, commissioned by Pure Advantage and the New Zealand Green Growth Research Trust, identifies 21 ways the country can capitalise on a [...]

New research suggests that over 1000 people have committed suicide due to the 2008-2010 economic recession in the UK Drawing on national health and unemployment databases, UK researchers have calculated the number of excess suicides attributable to the financial crisis by looking at the total number which were over and above historical trends. Their research [...]

ONLINE MEDIA BRIEFING: Wed 6 July 10.30 AM Soil, water, energy, air, wildlife and minerals — they underpin our economy, but go largely unrecognised when it comes to tallying up the balance sheet. Recent steps by policy-makers in the UK and locally are making concrete efforts to move away from a purely economic valuation of [...]

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released a report which suggests New Zealand should focus on producing and exporting technology which will counter green house gases from farming. The OECD’s Economic Survey of New Zealand, in addition to recommending the introduction of a capital gains tax and raising the retirement age, has [...]

Research from the University of Otago has shown that mental illness in young adults can be tied to poor economic outcomes in later life. (See an SMC Alert on the research here) An excerpt: (read in full here) “Disorders such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse were experienced by just over half those in the [...]

People who suffer mental illness between 18 and 25 are more likely to experience a range of negative economic effects later in life, according to research from the University of Otago. Studying 950 people born in Christchurch, researchers found that those who reported suffering from a psychiatric disorder (depression, anxiety disorder, substance dependence, etc) in [...]

ONLINE MEDIA BRIEFING: Tues 29 Jun 11 am (NZT) – Statistics New Zealand will release its latest biennial report on Innovation in New Zealand — which gives a snapshot of “business innovation and performance in New Zealand” — this Wednesday, 30 June. Innovation has become a hot topic in the science sector, reinforced by the [...]

Peter Huck writes in the New Zealand Herald about our fisheries situation, the Quota Management System (introduced in the late 1980s) and the difficulty of balancing long-term and short-term (or economic and conservation) interests. Conservation groups are pushing for the setup of no-fishing reserves, but, although the QMS has attracted criticism recently as being incomplete, [...]

Brian Easton is well known as an economist, a profession which he arrived at through a scientific route at the University of Canterbury (he is the only NZ economist with a D.Sc.) in the days when the university was deeply affected by the scepticism of Karl Popper. Since then, he has worked in a wide [...]