Wen and I were originally going to visit Nepal and then India but due to poor weather in Nepal (and poorer planning on our part), we’re only going to India for a now massive five weeks. I love India, having been there twice in 2006. While the second trip was purely a vacation, the first… Continue reading Getting Ready for India
Tag: Economics
Geography is Destiny
When we visited Laos, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was so (relatively) poor due to its status as a landlocked country. So I put together the following graphs comparing PPP Adjusted GDP per Capita (IMF or CIA number if IMF not available) for all countries that are not islands (my hypothesis is that… Continue reading Geography is Destiny
Borneo Notes
1. If the 20th century was the decade of the automobile, the 21st century is going to be the decade of the cell phone (yes, there were cell phones in the 20th century, but penetration tipped in the 21st. There were also cars in the late 19th century, but mass production didn’t come around until… Continue reading Borneo Notes
Commoditizing Dog Food
It’s always refreshing to see someone take their own advice (aka eating their own dog food). Last week Facebook announced their Open Graph initiative. It’s their hugely ambitious attempt to take over the web. In a nutshell, the idea is that you Facebook will be used to log you on to all websites and all… Continue reading Commoditizing Dog Food
Unanticipated Consequences
I’m always fascinated by the unanticipated side effects of people’s actions. Here’s an interesting one related to housing. Housing has definitely started the current economic crisis – but no surprises there; it’s just simply people taking on too much debt. However, it might make it worse than other crises. Why? Well, when people buy houses,… Continue reading Unanticipated Consequences