they happen to be things bouncing around in my head at the moment.
First off, I know I've blogged about this before, but I rather like
Lima. As far as large cities go, it's right up there on my list. It
could do with a garbage dump not right on the ocean and a few other
changes (less sprawl), but it really is a city with a tremendous
history, from pre-Incan civilizations up to the present. I'm staying in
San Isidro, which is one of the ritzier districts of Lima, primarily
because Krister's colleague, Dr. Miguel Jaramillo of research institute
GRADE works out here. Other things being equal, I think I prefer the
center of the city (the historic center, near the Plaza de Armas)
because (1) it's not as ritzy, and thus makes me less uncomfortable (2)
it's marginally more dangerous, but infinitely more interesting, no
matter what you're into, from architecture to history to tailors to
Chinese food. No worries about danger, either, as long as you're smart
and don't go wandering around with an SLR around your neck at 11PM. (3)
It has more, better, and cheaper cafe's. Fact of the matter is, some of
the best coffee I've had so far on this trip was in cafes in downtown
Lima in the first days of my trip.
Even so, this setup is pretty nice.
Got my coffee, and my caffeine-deprivation headache is gone. I'm still
tired as all getout, but feeling like a human again. Shower and coffee
do wonders.
For all of the recent talk about Paul Krugman (in case you don't follow
this stuff, he's a left-leaning economist who just got the Nobel Prize
in Economics), I had never heard him speak before. Based on his picture
for the NY Times, I always figured he would be pretty dour, but I've
just been listening to an interview he did for Bloomberg, and I think I
really like the guy. Obviously, really smart but also pretty
soft-spoken and modest. Of course, there are other academics who I
thought I really liked based on their public speaking, then I got to
meet them (or bump into them in the hall) and found them to be less
positive.
To be perfectly honest, I can't think of a well-known academic who I
haven't liked more after hearing them speak. Totally fell in love with
Doug North after hearing him talk, and the same with Mearscheimer and
BBdM. Mearscheimer especially. Got to love that Brooklyn accent.
One thing that's really striking about Peru is how visible extreme
wealth and extreme poverty are. This probably shouldn't be a surprise,
but it is striking.
I've been thinking a lot about the issue of inequality and the issue of
the middle class and democratization. One theoretical argument you hear
all the time (from everyone from my Dad to Hilton Root) is this idea
that the growth of a large middle class leads to democratization. I've
never understood what the causal argument is behind that. Why should
the middle class want democracy more than (for example) the poor? Is it
just that they have more resources at their disposal to demand democracy?
Personally, I find redistributional arguments (like that of Acemoglu and
Robinson and Boix) much more compelling.
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