Cox Crow

Urban Planning, on the Chinese Scale

PLANetizen points out a Guardian article on an amusing Chinese recreation of the Green and Pleasant Land. It seems that central planning can do things like

rehouse 500,000 people in nine new satellite towns, each with a separate theme.

10:22:21 PM # Google It!
categories: Place

Shrinking the Big Box

Novarese, like me, has been thinking about the question, how do you beat Wal-Mart?

It's almost accepted as common wisdom that Wal-Mart is an evil entity, putting moms and pops all out of business all over the country. The more I think about it, though, the more I think this is really a good thing, not a bad one. Retail is an economic black hole. There's no direct creation or innovation there. It's all overhead. Ultimately, the only innovation possible in retail is minimization of that overhead, which Wal-Mart has nearly perfected.

I was thinking of the problem from the perspective of the competing retailer, whether Food Lion or Billy Bob's Shoes, who sees his business being lost to more optimal enterprises. Why should he fail? Local government is usually responsive to the chamber of commerce, but a political solution is more defensive than competitive. Why not adapt? What would better meet the customer's needs?

K-Mart, neither a friend of the local retailer or of domestic manufacturing, loses sales to Wal-Mart for the simple reason that Wal-Mart is better. Wal-Mart's operations are more efficient, the stores are more convenient, and the help is helpful. K-Mart's employees tend to be rude slobs. Yet I shop there because it is closer.

Stephen Malanga wrote a positive article on Wal-Mart which describes the political maneuverings of the grocery unions against the company. Good Jobs First examines the results of subsidies on local economies, and has concentrated on Wal-Mart. Governments influence the market whether we like it or not. If we're to invest in businesses through public subsidy, we should expect a return on that investment.

The big-box retailer may be economically optimal under the current circumstances, but circumstances shift. Can the same retailer optimally fit a small space without a sea of parking, one closer to the customer? Is the box size a competitive advantage, or simply the easiest to build?

4:29:26 PM # Google It!
categories: Place

Lost Camera

We lost our working film camera sometime on Sunday. I'm not too concerned about the missing camera, but film did have some pictures from my brother-in-law's wedding. I suppose I'll replace it with a digital camera this time.

The last time I tried a digital camera, I never got comfortable, and so returned it. It's hard to get comfortable with a $500 Nikon that feels fragile. And digital doesn't seem as permanent as film. Though if this rumor about Pentax discontinuing film cameras comes true, I'll have to adjust soon enough.

12:22:23 PM # Google It!

A Triumph of The System

Harper's Index for May 2004 includes these choice tidbits:

• Chance that an American adult believes that "politics and government are too complicated to understand" : 1 in 3
• Chance that an American who was home-schooled feels this way : 1 in 25

Harper's cites the National Home Education Research Institute (Salem, Oregon), in an undisplayed < span /> element.

10:01:03 AM # Google It!
categories: Learning, Politics