Errors of Reform Conservatism

Learning the Wrong Lessons from Reform Conservatism by T. Greer @scholars_stage

• I think of this article now and then when considering the ideological void present in much of the right across the West. Metasophism is not an exclusively right-wing ideology because in order to work, it needs to include people and ideas from both the left and right. However, it’s good to think of the traps other reform programmes fell into, right-wing ones included. In later chapters (5 and 12) I will outline how it can avoid the pitfall Greer outlines as follows:

  • “Little wonder then that the reformocon vision of the future struggled to take hold! Reformocons argued for the centrality of community without endorsing any concrete vision of communal life. They described the need to build new institutions without committing themselves to any specific institutions. They authored wonkish proposals to strengthen family formation but painted no picture of families worth forming. The visions of the reformocons were colorless and empty. This was by design: Like a coloring book, every community and family could fill out the pre-printed designs with whatever color palette they treasured most. That worked when conservatives had an organic set of treasured traditions, values, and relationships to fill the blanks in with. Now they do not, and the reformocon platform is found wanting.”

Nathan Nunn Interview with Tyler Cowen

Link: Nathan Nunn on the Paths to Development with Tyler Cowen

• One point raised in the interview is the negative relationship between distance to the equator and national prosperity. This reminded me of some of the literature outlining the effect of temperature on productivity: take this study which states that “higher temperatures substantially reduce economic growth in poor countries. Second, higher temperatures appear to reduce growth rates, not just the level of output. Third, higher temperatures have wide-ranging effects, reducing agricultural output, industrial output, and political stability.”

  Here are some good quotes from the interview:

  • Quote: 1 Jeffrey Sachs has been famous, or at least when I was in grad school had famously said things like, “Africans live in strange places. They live away from rivers. They tend to live away from the coast. They live in more mountainous regions which are less fertile. Why would that be?”

    My guess, and from the data I’ve looked at, is you will see persistent patterns in where people live within Africa that is explained by those geographic features and the slave trade. They moved away from the coast where there was a slave trade. They moved away from rivers. They moved to mountains for protection.

  • Quote 2: On the Christian origins of individualism: [Joe Heinrich] talks about the breakdown of clans, which I think is important, and the breakdown of the extended family unit, the Church disallowing polygamy, the Church disallowing cousin marriage. All these things helped to maintain these lineage structures. That led to individuals being important. And that really is the definition of individualistic culture versus collectivist culture.