“Vagueness about numbers is a curse of the public sector. In the worst cases it borders on the criminal. Challenged to find one reliable number in the Argentine government’s books, a group of the most respected economists in Buenos Aires… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“The desire to control everything is giving way to pluralism, uniformity to diversity, centralization to localism, opacity to transparency, and immobilisme, or the resistance… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“If the United States sinks into political paralysis, its epitaph could well be, “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“Not many people in Washington are thinking beyond the 2016 presidential election. It is sometimes argued that an American administration operates strategically for only… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“If the eurozone collapses, its epitaph should be the words of Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, in 2007: “We all know… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“there is some evidence that governments are getting even more sluggish. It took America four years to build the Golden Gate Bridge, starting in… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“The British general election of 2010 returned only three MPs to the Commons who described their professions as “science or research” (compared with thirty-eight barristers).” — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“George Bernard Shaw once quipped that politicians can always rely on Paul’s vote if they give him money that they steal from Peter. This… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“We live and do business in the Information Age,” Barack Obama once complained, “but the last major reorganization of the government happened in the… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“This is only the beginning of a huge “Copernican revolution” (to borrow a phrase from Matthew Taylor, one of Tony Blair’s advisers) that is… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“So in both the West and the emerging world the state is in trouble. The mystery is why so many people assume that radical… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“the “compendium of learning” set in motion by the Ming Emperor Yongle (1360–1424), which drew on the talents of more than two thousand scholars… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
“Vagueness about numbers is a curse of the public sector. In the worst cases it borders on the criminal. Challenged to find one reliable… — John Micklethwait Copy Share Image
