Megan McArdle writes columns for Bloomberg. Today her topic is Denmark - how it works there and why it won’t work here.
Her conclusions are essentially twofold: high-wage, high-tax, high-cost, high-benefits Denmark “works” because Danes trust each other. And they trust each other because they’re both virtuous and as alike as peas in a pod. Put another way, Denmark works because it is full of Danes.
The U.S. has people from all over and, instead of trusting one another, we do as Reagan suggested, “Trust, but verify.” All that “verifying” reduces our productivity and increases our operational costs.
No surprise, McArdle finds Mormon Utah to be the U.S. state most resembling Denmark. Western Wyoming is largely Mormon; Danish-like trusting behavior is common in our small town where many leave keys in trucks, and don’t lock doors. As transplanted outsiders, the DrsC don’t follow suit.
It’s a good, albeit semi-long, article which I recommend reading if you’ve the time.
