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Comment by astennumero | Hacker News Reader

Another interesting aspect that is often ignored is the government's role in this situation. Increased footfall is beneficial for the economy. People generally spend more when they're outside than they would if they were at home. For example, one might choose to cook food rather than buy it when at home.

Therefore, some governments are actively pushing corporations to bring people back to the office to revive the economy. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, though. On one hand, reviving the economy will have long-term benefits. On the other hand, forcing people to spend money is not ideal.

Also, personally, I think we all grow and learn more about the world when we are in the world. You get to see and experience so many things while commuting, for example. I think it builds character.

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This is an interesting case of the "revive the economy" argument. If you really don't see a benefit, to you or your employer, to returning to work, you are being forced to waste money (spending implies you get something out of it). More generously, it's a tax where the benefits go to your local Subway or gas station (or maybe bistro and public transit).

There are probably lots of other ways to force people to waste money, so this raises two questions:

- Is a larger GDP an unequivocally good thing if you get there by raising people's baseline expenses?

- Are the parts of the economy you are stimulating the ones we want to see growing?

I don't know the answer in either case. But in the later case, I know a lot of people who work in carpentry and delivery apps, and since the pandemic they have made an absolute killing: the work-from-home mandate invigorated that part of the economy like nothing before.

P.S. I agree with your personal point about leaving home. I like going in to the office too: my office is about 20 minutes away by bike and it's nice to get some air. I'm not sure if applies to people who have a less healthy or refreshing commute.

> Increased footfall is beneficial for the economy. People generally spend more when they're outside than they would if they were at home.

It sounds like the broken window fallacy.

I'd like to see proof of government pressure for companies to RTO. In theory it seems likely, but it would be lovely to have a smoking gun to enter into evidence in the court of public opinion. DM me (joking, HN doesn't have DMs).

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