Nightlife as a measure of development
Mindtangle neighbor Kendo just returned from a year+ in Asia, and has been blogging about it. Most recently, he toured China, with some interesting observations about clubs and nightlife in the cities he visited.
The more I travel through the developing world, the more I’ve learned what inferences can probably be drawn about the nightlife in the area I’m visiting. Clubs are a great way to observe social behavior, and are great anecdotal measures of discretionary income (due in part because clubs induce people to show off their wealth). In emerging countries, the breadth and depth of venue selection is a good indicator of GDP per capita (alternatively, in developed countries like the U.S., there are more shades of gray, where the venue selection could depend on how “happening” the city is. For example, there’s a big difference between how fun the nightlife is in Miami and Pittsburg, although they are about even in per capita economic terms).
Link to the full post. It’s long, but full of interesting perspectives on burgeoning Chinese economies.
