tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post63144186547845003..comments2024-02-27T01:53:25.186-05:00Comments on Synthenomics: What China Could Be BuildingYichuan Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398092824604478764noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post-4458256419411993622012-08-27T20:17:36.567-04:002012-08-27T20:17:36.567-04:00An interesting take on rakes v leaf blowers:
http...An interesting take on rakes v leaf blowers:<br /><br />http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/10/which_to_use_rake_or_leaf_blow.htmlRedbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04904446896535209789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post-36346545701075725952012-08-27T12:57:19.404-04:002012-08-27T12:57:19.404-04:00The rest of this sounds commendable, but you have ...The rest of this sounds commendable, but you have got to be joking when you write "I want them to start building leaf blowers, so we don't have so many Chinese people in the low productivity position of sweeping streets."<br /><br />Have you ever watched someone at work with a leaf blower? I have. Maybe someone can prove otherwise with statistics, but I have never seen anything to give me the impression that leaf blowers enhance productivity (or that, as a result, they could eliminate jobs). The leaf blower has to be one of the most atrociously unhelpful inventions of the past century. Having watched people clean sidewalks with them I would readily bet that someone with a broom could consistently accomplish the same task in a similar amount of time.<br /><br />The only reasons I can think of for leaf-blowers' adoption are 1) a general belief that "modern," powered tools are always better than "old-fashioned," hand tools, and 2) they allow grounds crews to avoid any physical effort other than slowly waving one arm from side to side. Admittedly, if I had to clean streets for a living, I'm sure that I would appreciate the latter. However, given the fact that it doesn't seem to actually speed anything up, plus the expense of the leaf blower and fuel, as well as the negative externality of the godawful noise they make, it's just really hard to believe that in the larger picture replacing brooms with leaf blowers is a net gain in value.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post-47138247528373220872012-08-27T12:47:43.493-04:002012-08-27T12:47:43.493-04:00"... what I am saying is that we need to worr..."... what I am saying is that we need to worry about the systemic fragility that underpins the Chinese system, and be very, very concerned about the unknown magnitude of the downside risk."<br /><br />So, what should China be building?<br /><br />The 21st century will overturn many of our previously-held assumptions about civilization. The challenges and opportunities land development stakeholders now face – to fulfill the needs of society and achieve a favorable return on investment without harming the environment – have vast implications on the sustainability of our communities around the world.<br /><br />How do we develop a sustainable civilization?<br /><br />The World’s First Sustainable Development Decision Model is symbolized as a geometrical algorithm that balances and integrates the triple-bottom line needs of people, planet and profit into a holistic, fractal model that becomes increasingly detailed, guiding effective decisions throughout the community planning, financing, design, regulating, construction and maintenance processes while always enabling project context to drive specific decisions. <br /><br />Sustainable Land Development Initiative<br />http://www.triplepundit.com/author/sldi/Terry Mockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04025442950806640042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post-58758700505584504242012-08-16T12:08:21.528-04:002012-08-16T12:08:21.528-04:00Mr. Wang, as a Master's student in Finance at ...Mr. Wang, as a Master's student in Finance at Taiwan Tech, I have to sit through a lot of lectures about Taiwan/Chinese capital markets, and one of the big themes I see in China and Taiwan is that the big reason you won't see investments in capital the way you want it is the social norms and lack of social development to accept western ideals.<br /><br />In short, westerners invest, and Chinese/Taiwanese save. What implications this has for how they allocate investments is that Chinese and Taiwanese would prefer to store wealth (defer consumption) in very safe ways. In contrast, America/Europe have much more developed financial systems and as such, individuals will invest in income-producing assets. You can see this difference in risk attitudes in the bond market, and in my personal opinion, I believe it reflects the high prevalence of fraud. It's very hard to be defrauded out of a house (or education, another common investment by Chinese/Taiwanese), whereas complex financial instruments are much easier to lose wealth in. Even as the markets are developed, they haven't built the trust we take for granted in the US.markphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04360470234431945461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post-5477134605709712402012-08-14T22:10:05.364-04:002012-08-14T22:10:05.364-04:00Great post Yi-chuan, but have you ever considered ...Great post Yi-chuan, but have you ever considered the potential of monetary policy to ease private debt burdens? (Yes, I've had some influence from Irving Fisher's "debt deflation" tradition, mainly through Hyman Minsky and Richard Koo.)Blue Aurorahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02044362251868221897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638187113544241481.post-68997988703304610042012-08-14T20:21:40.010-04:002012-08-14T20:21:40.010-04:00Great post! Yes, obviously they should invest in t...Great post! Yes, obviously they should invest in things that increase future productivity. Whether that's housing, infrastructure, education, street blowers or farm equipment depends on the bottlenecks to productivity. I think you and Scott both are right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com