Finally I am done with this excellent book. I would recommend this book to anyone. You don’t need any economics or math background. It does an excellent job explaining the basic principles of economics in layman’s terms. As the sub title indicates, the book explains why rich countries are rich, poor countries are poor, and why you can never get a decent used car :). It also presents the problems of the US medi care system, why it is so inefficient, why it is not working. The book tells you why stores have sales, why tax on import is actually tax in export, why sweat shops are not neccesarily bad things. The book spends the last whole chapter on China’s economics reform in the recent three decades and why it is so successful.

All in all, this is a very well written book by a clever author. It is definitely worth reading no matter what your background is.

It’s way past new year. But since everyone has a new year resolution, why don’t I?  

Hmm, I am gonna run 1000 miles in 2007. That’s 20 miles a week. Swimming or cycling translates to 5 miles per hour. Outdoor sports don’t count.

Another wish is to be able to snowboard smoothly at the end of this season. So far, snowboarding seems harder to learn than skiing…

I have always been complaining about commuting in big cities, even cities not that big, such as Portland. And I always blame the poor public transportation in the US, which is a result of interest groups such as auto and oil industry. I was reading Tim Harford’s Undercover Economist last night and he proposed a valid point. The real reason that people drive too much is not driving itself is cheap, but an extra trip is cheap. We pay a lot for a car, registration, insurance, and such costs. However, taking another trip is almost free (only the fuel cost). That is to say, the marginal cost is very low. London introduced a fee of about $9/day for vehicles entering the congested area of the city in 2003. Withtin one year, the traffic considerably improved. Much more people took alternative means of transportation. It is time for big cities in the US to take similar steps to discourage people driving. One big problem I can see now is that the gas price is relatively too low. For example, it costs $2.5 for a bus ride in Seattle. For the same amount money, you can buy almost one gallon of gas, which translates into at least a 20-mile trip. It doesn’t make sense, does it?