Online Technology Will Raise GDP

An interesting article caught my eye: Online technology will raise gross domestic product(GDP).

The Yomiuri Shimbun
The 2007 white paper on information and communication forecasts that if progress is made in transforming Japan into a more advanced online society, it would raise gross domestic product by about 1 percent in 2010.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga submitted the white paper at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. In an advanced online society, people can be connected to computer networks anytime and anywhere.

According to the white paper, if such a society develops, working from home would increase as well as productivity. In this case, the increase in GDP would be 3.16 percent in 2010. But if there is a failure to meet the requirements necessary for a full-fledged online society, it would stand at 2.09 percent.
(Jul. 4, 2007)

A white paper in the above article is like a research report released by the federal government of the US. GDP stands for the nation's income. It tells us how rich on average the people are in the country.

As the above article says, an advanced online technology will enable us to work at home. We can cut a lengthy commute and spend more time on working by using an online technology. It will raise his/her productivity(or GDP per person) by spending more time on more valuable activities and more left time on leisure. I hope it'll be making us happier in such an online society.

By the way, does a blog contribute to a rise in GDP and people's happiness? A blog is one of the most advanced online technologies in the world and may be a great impact on our society: We can see so many diaries of unknown people through the blogs and talk with each other by posting our comment on what they say. Could the about 100-year ago people believe in such a fact? A blog contributes to connecting me in Japan and you in another country far away from Japan. If a blog raises GDP and the usefulness of our daily life, I think I should be proud of my being a blogger. What do you think of it?