Comments on: Bureaucracy and its Benefits http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2002/07/29/bureaucracy-and-its-benefits/ Sociology and other distractions Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:33:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Brad DeLong http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2002/07/29/bureaucracy-and-its-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-51 Brad DeLong Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.kieranhealy.org/wordpress/?p=49#comment-51 Ah. So trackback *does* work after all... Ah. So trackback does work after all…

]]> By: Drapetomaniac http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2002/07/29/bureaucracy-and-its-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-52 Drapetomaniac Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.kieranhealy.org/wordpress/?p=49#comment-52 I wonder if you could say some more about "the ability to abstract away from informal social networks" as a social good. I ask because in reading about the effects of colonial standardizing of customary law in both South Asia and Africa, I read that it seems to have been disastrous both in terms of equity and in terms of economic growth. I've read, similarly, that Tammany Hall was much more responsive to people's needs than the progressives who cleaned it up. I'm not disagreeing with your remarks at all, only that I would like to see a more complicated argument made about abstracting away social networks which addresses the ways in which those abstractings away have been brutal and/or inefficient. As I'm sure you may know, this is rather a fashionable subject in certain circles, and most of what I've read argues the opposite side, hence my interest. (And for that matter, I know immigrant business owners who complain terribly that they have to do more to obtain licenses and follow rules here than in the Third World, but that is an aside.) I wonder if you could say some more about “the ability to abstract away from informal social networks” as a social good. I ask because in reading about the effects of colonial standardizing of customary law in both South Asia and Africa, I read that it seems to have been disastrous both in terms of equity and in terms of economic growth. I’ve read, similarly, that Tammany Hall was much more responsive to people’s needs than the progressives who cleaned it up.

I’m not disagreeing with your remarks at all, only that I would like to see a more complicated argument made about abstracting away social networks which addresses the ways in which those abstractings away have been brutal and/or inefficient.

As I’m sure you may know, this is rather a fashionable subject in certain circles, and most of what I’ve read argues the opposite side, hence my interest.

(And for that matter, I know immigrant business owners who complain terribly that they have to do more to obtain licenses and follow rules here than in the Third World, but that is an aside.)

]]> By: Semi-Daily Journal http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2002/07/29/bureaucracy-and-its-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-53 Semi-Daily Journal Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.kieranhealy.org/wordpress/?p=49#comment-53 <strong>Tom Friedman on the Importance of a Good Referee For the Market Economy</strong> Occasionally the New York Times's Tom Friedman hits an extraordinarily powerful home run. This is, I think, one of his best: In Oversight We Trust ...You see, what really distinguishes American capitalism from most other countries' is not that we don't... Tom Friedman on the Importance of a Good Referee For the Market Economy

Occasionally the New York Times’s Tom Friedman hits an extraordinarily powerful home run. This is, I think, one of his best: In Oversight We Trust …You see, what really distinguishes American capitalism from most other countries’ is not that we don’t…

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