EconTalk with Russ Roberts

1. Very interesting discussion! I’m happy you were on the show (it also put your blog on my radar!)

   — Price Theory Economist · Apr 28, 08:27 AM · #

2. I just finished listening to this podcast and felt that idea about making Guantanamo Bay a charter city was outstanding. A open city within Cuba would most likely be an effective impetus to political and economic reform in Cuba. To the extent that that area represents freedom and prosperity it would also be a much better symbol of US policy than its current connotations of imprisonment and repression. Additionally there are the other potential benefits that Paul talked about in the podcast too. If this idea got traction, it could be a great one.
   Another idea that really resonated with me was the idea of formal, informal and meta rules. I work in cross country distributed software development. And I just want to share a few of my thoughts on how I see this work out in large international software companies.
   First companies see outsourcing as a way to get n well educated engineers for the same price as 1 US engineer. What they dont realize is that there is an entire individual mindset and cultural environment that surrounds that foreign engineer that makes him 1/nth as effective as his US counterpart. Two examples that I can think of right off the top — Does that engineer put in a full day of work or does he straggle into work at 10AM, read the paper for an hour over breakfast, start off for lunch at 11:30 and afternoon nap until 1:30, work for a while and then get ready at 5PM to go home? If he runs into a problem does he try to solve it himself and progress on or does he stop, send off and email asking for the answer and wait till tomorrow to continue? There are a whole set of informal behavioral norms that are unquestioned but which make organizations in less developed countries less effective.
   Companies try to overcome ineffective local norms by transplanting their corporate cultures overseas. In my experience, though, the reality is that the larger the overseas facility, the more its culture becomes local. People recreate what their own cuture is familiar with and affirms.
   To speculate a bit further, what would happen if a good set of rules and a new place to live was provided for Haitians? Charting their own course what is the possibility of them recreating Haiti in a new location? I don’t know the answer but when I look at the US experience in Iraq, I cant conclude that trying to provide better rules is enough. Im interested in what can be done from the bottom up to evolve groups towards more effective attitudes and ways of working but I cant claim success in my experiments so far. On the other hand, success might be more likely for charter cities to the extent that people face economic competition face to face every day. Nothing changes people like the raw winds of necessity — and companies protect people from those raw winds.
   I liked the idea of meta rules as well. You only touched the idea quickly but it brought to mind the game ‘Nomic’ — rules about changing rules, mutable and non mutable rules. I haven’t had the opportunity to experiment along these lines but it looks to be an interesting road to explore.
   best, Marc

   — Marc · May 2, 11:16 PM · #