Usual excuse about delayed posts, but I’ve been quite busy with interviews these last few weeks. I’ve also started working on a piece about how the UK systemically tries to remove the price incentive from far too much of the economy – once again looking like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. Anyway, onto the links:
https://www.notonyourteam.co.uk/p/individualism-and-cooperation-iii
- The third piece in an interesting series examining the ability of societies to absorb immigrants, the formation of liberal individualism vs kin-groups, and finally, this piece, which focuses on how economists consistently refuse to treat immigration as a cultural issue as much as an economic one.
> So, part of the immigrant absorption issue—how successfully for the citizenry, and the successful functioning of its institutions, a given society absorbs immigrants—is how congruent the cultures of immigrants are with the norms and rules of local institutions. One way to enable such congruence is to have lots of small groups of immigrants rather than large “lumps”, as the larger the “lumps”, the easier it is to remain immersed in—and so retain—one’s original cultural patterns. The smaller the groups, the less immersed in one’s original cultural patterns, the more adaptation to the local civic culture there is likely to be. - I’ve been consistently guilty of ignoring culture and focusing on economics in the past, but I found this essay a timely reminder again of what we are seemingly failing to understand in the UK, among most of our elite, anyway.
- Right now in the UK we’re seeing a battle between and indeed within the political parties over these points. In a way there’s a refreshing clarity to the Reform and Green Party positions vs that of the Liberal Democrats and Labour parties. The Conservatives are potentially more interesting now, but given they presided over 14 years of high immigration and the Boriswave, I’m not surprised they’re getting short shrift from the public.
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-pathologies-of-outdated-ideologies/
- Funnily enough, this ties quite well into the first link. Consider the following (which I know has been said many times elsewhere):
> It’s not hyperbole to say that the entire rise of what is termed “right-wing populism” by its opponents stems from the unwillingness of mainstream political parties to control immigration. - Personal favourite point in the essay was talking about the Ottoman Empire vs the Mamluk rulers, as I have loosely described the UK as the late Ottoman Empire, with no ability to reform, as every stakeholder has an incentive to keep the same rotten system standing.
- My concern is at the end of the piece, when the author talks about their confidence in our system reforming. Maybe, and given the polls it seems that the UK’s mainstream parties are headed for a wipeout, but I’m not convinced that I’ve seen enough to be confident in major reforms.
https://newsletter.sarahhaider.com/p/motherhood-is-not-rational?hide_intro_popup=true
- Something quite different to the prior two links here. Probably no surprise that it’s something I find interesting, given the article’s emphasis on economic incentives (or lack of them) for motherhood.
- It’s a US-focused view, but I think there are obviously profound read-across areas for the UK:
- Employment policy: The UK should consider much stronger hiring incentives, including tax credits to the company for two years, and more controversially, a potential relaxation (if the woman agrees to it) of employment rights, e.g. protection and wage. Remember, companies are assessing the downside risk of hiring a new person. Someone with up to two years out is almost certainly a greater risk than someone with recent employment history. My view is that it is better to be back in work asap, and use that to move onwards and upwards. Of course, you need a hot labour market, which is contrary to the UK’s de facto position.
- Recognising biology is real: Look, this is incredibly uncomfortable to discuss, given I’m a man. But it is the case that women are primary child rearers for a reason, and we should recognise this, with much higher income or tax relief for new parents. Furthermore, we also need to increasingly highlight that there are serious costs to delaying pregnancy for women (and their partners!).
- I’m sure that a lot of the above is going to be incredibly unpopular with a lot of the UK’s commentariat, who appear unable to consider second order effects, especially for “noble” causes. I’m also very aware that a great part of this is the problem around men and marriage too – once I find a good piece (or re-find), I will write on it.
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