In the last posts, I focused solely on work-related stuff.
I will keep doing this in the future, however one occasional, off-topic post doesn’t hurt.
In fact, it’s cross-pollination, and diverse topics, that stimulate creativity and interest.
(p.s. remember that there is a monthly newsletter, if you like love what I write)
Today I’m writing about “car ownership”, as a consequence of something that I’ve read a few minutes ago.
Look at this figure below.
The article concludes with “A new paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues that the number of cars per capita is a better way than income alone to track the size of the middle class.”
My humble, personal opinion is that this is a wrong conclusion.
Italy doesn’t have a bigger (in percentage) middle class than Germany.
I believe that there are other factors that determine this outcome: public transportation; quality and quantity of roads available; fuel costs; average size of cities. Examples? Italy has a public transport system that is usually considered not as good as the German one; has higher fuel costs, less roads, comparable quality; more numerous, but smaller cities compared to Germany.
What’s your view? Why do you think Italy is ranked #1?
Do you think it’s a good thing, or a bad thing?
I’m a fan of car sharing, being eco-friendly, and public transportation, whenever they make sense. I personally would like to see less cars on roads, and a better use of these cars.