The Berlin opening was funny! Wonderful writing. Could we get a novelist to expand on this?
A slightly more serious thought on Spain: Isn't Spain's problem that Madrid and Barcelona soak up the youth from the countryside? I recall an FT visualization showing population density changes across Spain. It reminded me of the depopulation of the French South that occurred some 100 years ago. The French have since corrected course, e.g., by making Toulouse the center of the European aviation industry. Similar efforts at industrial policy could also be great in Spain: Rather than expanding Madrid or Barcelona, Spain could direct industrial policy towards e.g., Galicia.
If I had a magic wand, I'd probably create a massive fund and give it to the regional universities to fund start-ups. Universities could then provide 80% guarantees on startup loans and take 10% equity or so. My take: We should be leveling up the regions to counteract the recent migratory pressures into the big cities. But it would be foolish to pick winners. Subsidized credit without many strings attached and light-touch regulation for building production facilities would go a long way. That would help agricultural and textile businesses in Galicia to expand, export, and bring good jobs—and workers—to a region that is less congested.
Not sure, on the other hand, that our energies are best spent fixing Berlin's problems. With tongue-in-cheek, note: Germany was well governed when Bonn was the capital. Decentralization is the answer!
Christopher there are good things happening in places beyond Madrid, for example checkout Malaga attraction of tech firms or the ecosystem around Zara (Inditex) in Galicia, checkout the marble industry in Macael or the huge vegetable cluster in Almeria (lots of R&D). Check out the companies around Tarifa creating kitesurfing. All without industrial policy. Industrial policy has created white elephants and corruption all over Spain with bureacrats deciding the industries and at their speed they support long defunct opportunities.
The best industrial policy is to facilitate what is already happening by fixing chokepoints: permits for building, licenses, transport links etc.
The spiel at universities is “we are not here to be useful for capitalism or train youth for jobs, we are here to expand inquiry into many subjects”.
You dont want to pick winners but want to pick cities. Why? If Madrid is creating thousands of jobs are you going to forbid that they hire the best candidate because it comes from Leon?
very informative, keep explaining these very besic facts: judges entrusted with environmental regulations and laws will make development more difficult, if not impossible. they work hand in hand with degrowth NGOs. Quo vadis, Europe?
I have the impression that many people don't realize how high the opportunity costs really are, nor do they understand how much good could be done for the environment with just a fraction of these costs.
I would really like to read a blog post from the developers of the Pankower Tor apartment block, going through their perspective of all these toad and lizard shenanigans.
Honestly, I think it’s frivolous to treat the environmental issue this way. The “cherry-picking” of anecdotal examples seems unscientific to me and unworthy of someone with the surname Garicano. In any case, I’m going to propose here two policies that, in my opinion, could help solve the problem in Spain:
(1) Make it easier to change land-use designations in urban development plans (prioritizing mixed-use zoning), and
(2) Create a large public housing stock for rent (publicly owned but privately managed).
I was linking the overall post thinking to the current example of Madrid, and tried to expand it a little bit. However, and I speak for Madrid only, I struggle to think of EIAs as a new housing development blocker. Madrid has for instance currently 130k dwellings planned for the short term (also in the east and close to Natura 200 areas), and pressure over density or transport links would do better.
Do you think environmental compliance has room for improvement in terms of house-building?
The Berlin opening was funny! Wonderful writing. Could we get a novelist to expand on this?
A slightly more serious thought on Spain: Isn't Spain's problem that Madrid and Barcelona soak up the youth from the countryside? I recall an FT visualization showing population density changes across Spain. It reminded me of the depopulation of the French South that occurred some 100 years ago. The French have since corrected course, e.g., by making Toulouse the center of the European aviation industry. Similar efforts at industrial policy could also be great in Spain: Rather than expanding Madrid or Barcelona, Spain could direct industrial policy towards e.g., Galicia.
If I had a magic wand, I'd probably create a massive fund and give it to the regional universities to fund start-ups. Universities could then provide 80% guarantees on startup loans and take 10% equity or so. My take: We should be leveling up the regions to counteract the recent migratory pressures into the big cities. But it would be foolish to pick winners. Subsidized credit without many strings attached and light-touch regulation for building production facilities would go a long way. That would help agricultural and textile businesses in Galicia to expand, export, and bring good jobs—and workers—to a region that is less congested.
Not sure, on the other hand, that our energies are best spent fixing Berlin's problems. With tongue-in-cheek, note: Germany was well governed when Bonn was the capital. Decentralization is the answer!
Christopher there are good things happening in places beyond Madrid, for example checkout Malaga attraction of tech firms or the ecosystem around Zara (Inditex) in Galicia, checkout the marble industry in Macael or the huge vegetable cluster in Almeria (lots of R&D). Check out the companies around Tarifa creating kitesurfing. All without industrial policy. Industrial policy has created white elephants and corruption all over Spain with bureacrats deciding the industries and at their speed they support long defunct opportunities.
The best industrial policy is to facilitate what is already happening by fixing chokepoints: permits for building, licenses, transport links etc.
The spiel at universities is “we are not here to be useful for capitalism or train youth for jobs, we are here to expand inquiry into many subjects”.
You dont want to pick winners but want to pick cities. Why? If Madrid is creating thousands of jobs are you going to forbid that they hire the best candidate because it comes from Leon?
very informative, keep explaining these very besic facts: judges entrusted with environmental regulations and laws will make development more difficult, if not impossible. they work hand in hand with degrowth NGOs. Quo vadis, Europe?
I have the impression that many people don't realize how high the opportunity costs really are, nor do they understand how much good could be done for the environment with just a fraction of these costs.
I would really like to read a blog post from the developers of the Pankower Tor apartment block, going through their perspective of all these toad and lizard shenanigans.
Honestly, I think it’s frivolous to treat the environmental issue this way. The “cherry-picking” of anecdotal examples seems unscientific to me and unworthy of someone with the surname Garicano. In any case, I’m going to propose here two policies that, in my opinion, could help solve the problem in Spain:
(1) Make it easier to change land-use designations in urban development plans (prioritizing mixed-use zoning), and
(2) Create a large public housing stock for rent (publicly owned but privately managed).
Hello Pieter, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I was linking the overall post thinking to the current example of Madrid, and tried to expand it a little bit. However, and I speak for Madrid only, I struggle to think of EIAs as a new housing development blocker. Madrid has for instance currently 130k dwellings planned for the short term (also in the east and close to Natura 200 areas), and pressure over density or transport links would do better.
Do you think environmental compliance has room for improvement in terms of house-building?