Things have to get worse to get better: Voters can’t be sold on change until their nation is in acute trouble
https://www.ft.com/content/c9a8d92a-0c1d-424e-83be-c3469c370c19
Janan Ganesh notes:
Things had to get worse to get better. Understand this, and you understand much about contemporary Europe. Britain and Germany are stuck with flawed economic models because, in the end, things aren’t so bad there. The status quo is uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as the upfront costs of change. And so the merest cut to pensioner benefits or inheritance tax exemptions incurs public wrath. Now contrast this with southern Europe. Much of the Mediterranean has reformed its way into economic growth (Spain), fiscal health (Greece) and high employment (Portugal) precisely because of the brush with doom that was the Eurozone crisis circa 2010. Essentialist arguments about the “character” of the south, about its work ethic and so on, turned out to be nonsense. Forced to change, it did.
https://www.ft.com/content/c9a8d92a-0c1d-424e-83be-c3469c370c19
Janan Ganesh notes:
Things had to get worse to get better. Understand this, and you understand much about contemporary Europe. Britain and Germany are stuck with flawed economic models because, in the end, things aren’t so bad there. The status quo is uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as the upfront costs of change. And so the merest cut to pensioner benefits or inheritance tax exemptions incurs public wrath. Now contrast this with southern Europe. Much of the Mediterranean has reformed its way into economic growth (Spain), fiscal health (Greece) and high employment (Portugal) precisely because of the brush with doom that was the Eurozone crisis circa 2010. Essentialist arguments about the “character” of the south, about its work ethic and so on, turned out to be nonsense. Forced to change, it did.