Amazing research news #1: British economists have tried to discover whether crime really does pay, by analysing the earnings of bank robbers. The team from the universities of Sussex and Surrey used hitherto-confidential 2007 data from the British Bankers' Association to work out that the average heist netted £20,331, or £12,706 for each gang member ($25,440 at today's exchange rate). That was much more than in the United States, where the average bank job yielded just US$4330 ($5574 today). But the chances of a British bank robber getting away with more than four robberies before being caught are extremely low. This risk/return tradeoff is "frankly, rubbish", the economists conclude.
BREAKING NEWS
Amazing research news #2: A US study has discovered the holy grail of all news editors - a simple formula that predicts a news story's popularity, "with an astounding 84 per cent accuracy" reports the Atlantic magazine. Researchers from UCLA and HP Labs set out to discover what made stories spread via social media, and found it boiled down to four things: the category of news (technology and health rate best); whether the story mentions celebrities, or famous brands; the language (calm is good); and the source of the news (old media still rule, it seems). In other words, a tech story from a trusted source will do well, but a tech story from a trusted source that involves Lady Gaga will do even better.
LIE DOWN, PAY UP
The Auckland Council's consideration of a "bed tax" on tourists staying in hotels and motels had the tourism business throwing its hands up in horror. But the idea seems to be catching on among cash-strapped councils trying to meet budgets without stinging ratepayers even more than they already do. The mayors of Napier and Hastings are the latest to float the idea.
BE IN TO WIN
Entries opened this week for two of New Zealand's better-known business awards. Entries for the NZ Innovators Awards are open until August 13 - the winners will be announced on September 14 - and high-growth companies looking for a spot on the Deloitte Fast 50 list have until July 13 to make their case. The Fast 50 list will be revealed on October 24.
STINGING CUTS
New technology was meant to make it cheaper to do business with the Companies Office - and it did for a while. But budget cuts have led to the return of the fee for filing company annual returns and increases in fees covering the office's services and the databases it administers. To be fair, the largest of the increases, which come into force from August, are to fund the Financial Markets Authority and the External Reporting Board, but the rise in costs will still sting.
