"The real problem with the Treasury's intelectual scepticism is that there is not enough of it in the world. The west is going through a phase of almost messianic belief in the power of government.
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The state can do spectacular things. Europe cut its reliance on Russian fossil fuels at speed. Governmental leadership, not just biomedical genius, produced the Covid-19 vaccine.
But these feats tend to happen under extreme duress. In normal times, the business of government is to make things a bit better, knowing that it will make other things a bit worse. This is because: resources are finite, different goals conflict, advanced countries plucked most of the low-hanging fruit long ago, unintended consequences obtain, and social outcomes are determined as much by deep historical patterns or geographic constraints as by diktat.
The problem illness isn't Treasury Brain. It is Do Something-itis. Public life isn't full of pessimism. It is full of 10-point plans and summits called things like Horizon 2055. Sunak began the year with a pledge to halve inflation within 12 months. This is a man who "runs" an open, midsized economy, exposed to such outside vagaries as the Ukraine war and foreign central bank policy. Even if the pledge is met, it was vainglorious to make. And he is a relative sceptic about government. The Treasury was always accused of hiring humanities-trained generalists over technical economists. Is that all bad? With some Shakespeare or Conrad, it is easier to see that one's schemes to better the world have to reckon with the permanence of human nature, among other external forces. It is a public service, not a mental defect, to understand how little we can do against the tempest."
Trechos retirados de "The west has forgotten the limits of government"
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