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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gib Bogle who wrote (68617)	9/17/2005 7:01:06 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

I think a small local market size has done a lot to shape the economy and society of New Zealand. For those who are familiar with both places, I think the similarities between Tasmania and New Zealand are hard to miss. The feel of the economy and the social interactions in the community in both places seem very similar to me. There is a net migration out of Tasmania to other Australian states on the mainland, just as there is in New Zealand. Hobart is only an hour from Melbourne by air, while Aukland is something like 3.5 hours from Sydney, but I don't think the difference is distance has made much difference in the two places. An interesting contrast is Hawaii which is some 5.5 hours from Los Angeles. With a population of 1.2 million, compared with 4 million in New Zealand and 0.5 million in Tasmania, Hawaii has an intense, perhaps over-active, economy based on tourists and part-time residents from the mainland U.S. and Japan. Wages are high and so are living costs. Hawaii does have their own locally owned and run banks, unlike New Zealand. I think that's important for an active economy. I'd rather earn less in Aukland or Hobart than be well-paid in Honolulu. If I were older, I might even like life in Napier or a "MIss Marple village" like Christchurch. .