Thursday, August 14, 2008

If at first you don't succeed - give up.

Think tank Policy Exchange has stirred up a hornet's nest with the suggestion that people in poorer Northern areas should quit backing a loser and head for the South-East, or the Golden Triangle.

Or the Golden Circle:


Isn't this the rational, liberal-economic thing to do? Or is mankind something more than a calculation in money terms? Is there any one measure for Man?

Are liberal economists rational? Do they describe the world as it is, or as they think it should be? Would it be dangerous for us to follow their prescriptions, if others elsewhere took a different view?

An after-thought: would it not be more rational to head for Scotland? Free tertiary education, more money spent on care for the elderly, etc?

3 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

This report has been done to death without anybody reading it. I have read pamphlets by Tim Leunig and Policy Exchange and they are quite well researched and sensible, so it wouldn't surprise me if this were the same. Hats off to them for getting such good coverage.

Sackerson said...

Hi, Mark. I don't particularly have an opinion either way, since I'm not in one of those especially poor areas; but Tebbit's "on yer bike" only works for some. People form non-financial attachments. But if they are going to move, why not to bonny Scotland?

RobW said...

I think here we have to recognise that in relation to where you live the market doesn't simply work in financial terms.

I would seriously consider leaving the south east if the right job offer came up. Simply to enjoy a better and more relaxed standard of life.