Among economics
bloggers its now getting almost de rigueur to have the occasional post linking
to music, and there are also many that recommend (non-economics) books. Here is
my version of something similar but different. However there is an economics
question at the end of the first paragraph.
I went
briefly to Zurich for the first time recently, and liked the city a lot. It is
of course very expensive: 6 Swiss Francs (about 5 Euros, £4 or $6) for a half
litre of bottled water in a restaurant. However one thing that surprised me was
the large number of (what seemed to be) small independent shops, in some cases
selling individually made artisan products like furniture or jewellery. Not so much on the west bank: Bahnhofstrasse
is full of the designer label shops that those working for the likes of Credit
Suisse presumably spend their money. But the Old Town and Niederdorf areas seemed
quite different, and also different from a similar sized UK city, where such
shops would be confined to less central, and normally cheaper, areas. Is this
my imagination, or is there some economic explanation? You would imagine rents
in central Zurich would be pretty high.
For
anyone with time to spare in Zurich, check out the Law Library which is part of
the university area. The interior
has been designed by Santiago
Calatrava (usually known for his bridges), and is very impressive. We also
went to see the new Zentrum gallery in Bern
which houses many works by one of my favourite artists, Paul Klee. The building
is designed by Renzo Piano,
and is like three hills that form part of the landscape. I couldn’t help
thinking of the contrast with the Beaubourg is
Paris, which Piano designed 30 years earlier with Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini, and which
shouts its presence and contrast with the elegant Parisian streets that
surround it. Anyway here is one of my favourite Klee pictures (Ad Parnassum).
