Quickthink

Back in the bad old days, I was in the legal reform business. What were we trying to do? In short, we were trying to make law more responsive to social needs. More efficient, in a sense. A prerequisite is that actors in the legal community (law makers, judges, etc.) actually care what society needs over time.

That brings me to Russia. The Economist offers a glimpse of the Russian legislative drafting process. Does this meet the prerequisite? The system is getting more predictable in its protection of power. Ergo, Russian society needs that, right?

Of course, some people might say that. But they are people without plans for the future that require capital. If you have plans, you want many. So what about government? Well, by definition it has to have plans. It is responsible for things like defense and infrastructure and education, etc. So, Paul Krugman asks, why doesn’t it want money that is nearly interest free? Good question, I think.