The Economics of Enough_ How to Run the Economy as if the Future Matters - Diane Coyle [142]
9. This goes too for the world as a whole. I’ve spent little time in this book discussing the international economic institutions, as that’s such a huge subject in its own right. However, they clearly need reform. Their problem isn’t just an insufficiently long time horizon but also their lack of legitimacy. From the European Commission, through the proliferation of UN agencies such as the IPCC, to the IMF and WTO, they are remote from voters, and sometimes even from member governments. The required reforms will be varied, but the common themes should be the clear embrace of a public service mission, openness, and greater direct engagement with the members of the public whose lives they will ultimately affect.
10. Each country should pursue its own policies to address the risk and likely degree of climate change, absent international agreement. Different populations will make different assessments, but it’s vital to recognize that given the scientific uncertainties and moral judgements, there is no “right” answer as to what policies to introduce. This is properly a matter for democratic debate, and the debate therefore has to occur at the national level. There is no international agency with the credibility to tell national governments what they should do. But even without international consensus, any individual country can introduce a measure such as a carbon tax, to nurture new technologies and clean energy investment.
The success of any of these ten steps, whether these are measures to reduce income inequality, get citizens more engaged in policy deliberations, or persuade a nation to develop a long time horizon, depends on education. This hasn’t been a book about education reform either, but ensuring people have the education they need to earn, participate in policy debates, and develop strong shared values is the central task of governments in running the economy as if the future matters.
Two centuries ago, in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, and again just over one century ago in the high Victorian era, the restless dynamism of capitalism and the upheaval caused by new technologies presented our forebears with similar challenges to the ones we in the West face now. We still rely on some of the investments they made in response to the challenges of their times, and on the institutions they created. To look at some of the masterpieces of late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture or engineering, for example, is to be awed by the confidence those responsible were expressing in the future, and by the commitment they made to it. Less visible but no less important are the political, legal, and social institutions they bequeathed their successor generations. What is our legacy going to be?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is dedicated to Kathleen Coyle, 1922–2010, who taught me everything that’s important.
I have ranged widely, and I’m grateful to many people for their assistance and comments.
My heartfelt thanks to Ed Glaeser, Paul Seabright, Peter Sinclair, Gerry Stoker, and an anonymous referee for their helpful advice and comments on early drafts, and also to Peter Dougherty of Princeton University Press and my agent Sara Menguc for their constant encouragement. To Lindsay Fraser and Mary Beth Sutter for research assistance and helpful comments. To the following for their input on different parts of the book during its creation: Richard Baggaley, Tim Besley, Dave Birch, Philip Blond, Richard Bronk, Madeleine