Isn't the broader implication of this that the UK's much vaunted professional services sector is riven with rent seeking grifters? Feels like we've never properly recovered from the fallout from the extreme fallout from 2008's rent seeking saga...
I think "rent seeking grifters" is putting it a bit strongly. They are providing a valuable service to people who want to block things. What has gone wrong is that all the avenues for genuine consultation have gradually atrophied along with the rest of public sector capacity, but the legal mechanisms are still there, as is the common-law construction kit for finding new ways to sue people.
Yeah, strong language, fair point. But the result is that you get levels of rent seeking that are much higher than is desirable to drive the outcomes you want.
“Anglo-Saxon system of governance does have one characteristic that makes it much more likely that every single such potential sticking point will become an actual sticking point”.
Anglo-Saxon capacity for governance is almost vestigial compared to China’s. That’s partly because everyone agrees on the country’s direction, and partly because they outlawed political factions 500 years ago and because success in the civil service exam requires an IQ of
Isn't the broader implication of this that the UK's much vaunted professional services sector is riven with rent seeking grifters? Feels like we've never properly recovered from the fallout from the extreme fallout from 2008's rent seeking saga...
I think "rent seeking grifters" is putting it a bit strongly. They are providing a valuable service to people who want to block things. What has gone wrong is that all the avenues for genuine consultation have gradually atrophied along with the rest of public sector capacity, but the legal mechanisms are still there, as is the common-law construction kit for finding new ways to sue people.
Yeah, strong language, fair point. But the result is that you get levels of rent seeking that are much higher than is desirable to drive the outcomes you want.
This reminds me of Mazzucato and Collington's recent book The Big Con
“Anglo-Saxon system of governance does have one characteristic that makes it much more likely that every single such potential sticking point will become an actual sticking point”.
Anglo-Saxon capacity for governance is almost vestigial compared to China’s. That’s partly because everyone agrees on the country’s direction, and partly because they outlawed political factions 500 years ago and because success in the civil service exam requires an IQ of
140