Herewith my presentation in London “Economic reform thinking as if we’d bothered to do it” and Martin Wolf’s commentary on it beginning at around the 40 minute mark. Judging from audience comments, a good time was had by all. You can download the slides to which I was speaking from this link.
Very good presentation. I really liked the comments on dysfunctional professions/occupations. Unfortunately we’ve had trouble even picking up the $50 bills right in front of us on the street in this regard e.g. replacing state licensing for plumbers and gas fitters with national licensing. The whole push for a seamless national economy appears to have stalled.
Thanks – we really have been very lazy with our federation. Citizens should be able to transact with a relatively seamless government platform bringing together access to Federal and State programs.
On the other hand I was more exercised about something else, which I think hasn’t been picked up anywhere else – which is to think about the incentives in professional production chains with a view to trying to optimise conflicts of interest. The ways subtle and otherwise that markets in professional and expert services are distorted in ways that for instance the market for research is – at every level – is barely considered by economists thinking about economic reform. At least not anywhere that I can think of.