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Economic Growth and Highway Speeds - my thesis

Pretend I am a fancy Harvard grad (with an impossible to pronounce last name) associated with a think tank (not tanked thinking) based in Washington.  Therefore I am about to postulate a lot of mumbo jumbo but this might just be true.

As I was doing my usual inane driving to work I got to thinking of how many people were being transported from point A to B to C and beyond (if they were not paying attention...) on American highways as compared to a recent trip to the isles of New Zealand where a four car sighting is cause for concern - is that a traffic jam? 

Also posted road speeds in aggregate are much lower in New Zealand (perhaps a sentiment shared by their airports where if you show up couple hours ahead of your flight the monitor display actually says 'RELAX' for flight status) compared to the American highways.

So going back to the thinking - I get to run through the many roadway experiences in different places I have had the fortune to visit and it points to a glaring fact - the faster you drive the more hyper the country as a whole is and therefore responsible for a larger GDP.

For places like Germany where I have not driven (their autobahns are of world fame as is the Deutsch Rail) facts coincide with the thinking that they tend to be one of the world's larger and growing economies regardless of their size.  Same with Singapore or Japan.

Poor infrastructure and general lack of investment in transportation facilites is after all a function of lower GDP but to see it reflected in the psyche of people can be interesting.  Though slower speeds also could mean more Zen like lifestyle where people enjoy the journey and not get caught up in the act of getting there.

Make your choice.  Slow Zen or Fast to the next red light.

Another bright idea for a new thesis - GDP as a function of gross toilet flushes!
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  1. RajendraJanuary 8, 2014 at 8:49 PM

    Think tank flourish- the next planned thesis I mean..

    ReplyDelete

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