Yesterday, was my lecture about Globalization and Economics for my class. I went over different economic theories, types of trade, infrastructure, development and industrialization. One of the things that struck me as I reviewed the information, was how much is missing in financial discussions about quality of life. In a rush to get highways built and industry mechanized, we lost precious aspects of culture as well.
One of the treats of having a small evening class is that people have been bringing homemade, traditional foods to share. So far, one student brought tamales, one brought lumpia, and I brought jam made from the berries in our backyard. You can buy versions of all of this food at stores made in a factory, but none of it is fresh or good as hand made. Food is only one aspect of culture.
When I lived in Asia, my teaching wardrobe was handmade at a tailor shop down the street. There is a small family that owned it, and they would measure me and make clothes that fit my particular body at that particular time of my life. I didn’t have a lot of clothes, but they fit well and they felt good. Ironically, all of my clothes are still made in Asia today, but probably made in massive factories with cheaper fabric and have a terrible fit and feel.
Travel quality should be considered as well. I have spend an hour and a half in traffic to go 20 miles. Sometimes I take my bike and ride the train which is great, but it’s also time consuming and I didn’t feel totally safe on my way home late at night. It would be ideal to live closer to my work, but the cost is prohibitive and we’d lose the space that we have out in Hillsboro.
Economists like to measure the wealth of nations by the number of billionaires, but it would be nice for them to have a measurement of the citizens enjoyment of life. Does everyone have a weekend and evening and a shop around the corner they can walk to their family without getting run over? Is the air clean, water drinkable and can they hear the birds sing? It’s something to keep in mind.
