As always, a new Govt. (or administration) in the UK, will be bombarded by lobbyists from the financial services industry making two key claims:

1. that finance is key to the UK's economic success; and

2. the yoke of regulation needs to be lifted so they can increase that contribution...

But, new administrations should recall, financial services have been at the heart of our industrial strategy & its clearly not working; and

deregulation has crashed the economy before!

#politics #economics

Excellent!

riftlymedia.com/zipper-mechani…

I swear, every city needs a medina, a cheap mixed-use neighborhood where people can open tiny 2m × 2m shops that specialize in fixing zippers. Or sharpening kitchen knives. Or replacing shoe heels. You can get those services now, of course, but only at ruinous cost, because every shop has to pay thousands of dollars a month in rent on a high street. More tiny kiosks on narrow streets, sez I.

#economics #urbanism #cities #repairability

The Precise Mechanics Behind Why Zippers Fail and What That Reveals About Everyday Product Engineering -

Most zipper failures are a worn slider — a £1 part. You throw away the jacket because nobody told you. The tolerance decision was made in a spreadsheet.

^{Riftly (riftlymedia.com)}

This is an impressive interview. I think this is the first time I've seen someone ask questions that has caused @pluralistic to have to actually slow down & think carefully about the answers. (& the answers are kind of chilling.)

Edit: His conclusion matches mine: the point fix for the mess we're in is to get the oligarchies under control.

(& DAMN I wish somebody would put together a conversation between him & #HeatherCoxRichardson

youtube.com/watch?v=SPQNPJ0CEP…

#AI #Oligarchy #Economics

Industrial policy has been much maligned as 'interventionism' even as most countries have such a policy (even if its not called that & is more implied that explicit);

so Jostein Hauge is right to tease out five explicit reasons countries might develop & maintain an industrial policy:

Infant industry promotion;

response to market failure(s);

by passing coordination failures;

developing long-term strategic shifts;

national security & industrial autonomy.

#economics
theglobalcurrents.com/p/why-do…

Why do countries need industrial policy?

The case for looking beyond market failures

^{Jostein Hauge (Global Currents)}