How much should you pay for signaling?

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First of all, congrats Adriana. Of course, selfishly we think the best part is that you will be around this year!

Second, it does seem like everyone is on vacation from work and blogging. Well, David and I are still cranking in KL and have another three weeks to go – so I might as well work on the blog a bit too. Speaking of work, I don’t think we mentioned but we are working in the world’s tallest twin towers and formerly world’s tallest buildings. Everyday as I go up and down the elevator I get some time to think (its funny how people don’t chat in the lift). As I am there thinking, all sorts of things come to mind. For example, the other day, realizing I was in a double-decker elevator, I derived a nice coordination game in my head to figure the best way to get people up and down the lift.

In any case, I have spent sometime thinking about the buildings themselves. I was initially puzzled with their very existence. How did the world’s tallest ended up in KL? Malaysia is a middle-income place and the city is not particularly rich-looking. Perhaps more importantly, if you walk around the city you will notice its not particularly dense. There is still a lot of empty space and there aren’t that many tall buildings. Clearly there is no need for a building like this, let alone two of them!

But then I figured it out: it must be signaling. Of course, there is an element of megalomania and a bit of regional competition, but ultimately having a landmark building like this sends a signal – a very strong one – “we are for real, we are developed”. And after some research I did find out that Mahathir (former PM ) actually did want to send a signal to the world. Was it worth spending millions of government money on it? I will let you decide, but I will leave with his quote:

" Indeed they (the towers) stand out prominently against the skyline of Kuala Lumpur to symbolise courage, ingenuity, initiative, and determination, energy, confidence, optimism, advancement and zest of a nation that will bring worldwide recognition and respect to all Malaysians. This is vital for Malaysia as a relatively small nation to compete effectively among the bigger global players in the international arena."