Economists who studied in the '80s tend to have a pretty crude neoclassical view that's just about freeing up prices and markets, and then you'll get the growth and everybody benefits. And they'll just repeat that, because if you're a minister or a senior civil servant, you don't have time to read anything anymore. You get very fixed in your views.
Duncan GreenSomewhere like Russia or China, decision-makers have far fewer constraints on acting than in more open systems.
Duncan GreenPeople think there's a single solution to complex problems, and the solution is often making an enemy of a group of people - pulling back and rejecting the other.
Duncan GreenTo be effective at selling ideas, at being a lobbyist, influencing other people, you have to be very sure of yourself.
Duncan GreenThe post-Second World War simple system of social democracy and organized labour has fragmented massively, but just because people aren't organized in workplace trade unions doesn't mean they aren't in associations with other people - work-based, place-based, culture-based, sport-based, faith-based - there's a bit of an old rainbow coalition argument.
Duncan Green