The Inimitable Tiff

Like so many, Fukujama is confusing the making of decisions with the decisions themselves. We are all in awe when governments make decisions, let alone when they implement them. Especially here in the U.S., however, the sight of other governments actually doing things can induce Frankensteinian glee among political economists —  It’s alive! It’s A-Live! It’s ALLLIVVE! — as governments do the things that they statutorily can, but so rarely do in real life. But as Japan and others have shown us, while the U.S. regularly errs on the side of stasis, more activist governments’ decision-making is often wasteful, ill-timed, and off base. There is little reason yet to expect that China’s, despite its many successes, will be any different, or that Mr Fukujama’s paeans today will be any other than eventual museum pieces.