Author Topic: "Charter Cities"  (Read 1122 times)

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Offline Riceball

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"Charter Cities"
« on: February 03, 2011, 06:19:55 PM »
Article I read: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/honduras-flirts-with-utopian-model-city-plan/story-e6frg8zx-1225999800929
Original: https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704775604576119931268333632.html
FinTimes: https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4b4214e-2fcd-11e0-91f8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1CwmeO3Or

My local broadsheet, The Australian, this morning published an article about Paul Romer and his new growth theories (the article originally came from the Wall Street Journal). His theories are based on the idea that governance and property rights are more important in fostering developmental growth in poorer nations than the amount/relative efficiency of capital and labour. If you are interested in economics and have a basic understanding about growth theories, it is interesting stuff and I recommend you read it.

Apparently, Romer has become less involved in academia and more involved in the practicalities of his work. His latest idea, the crux of it at least, is to create a city state from the ground up, organise it in the most efficient manner, and invite citizens of the particular country it is located in to live and work in it. The state would be governed by a totally seperate "charter", which spells out, in direct terms, the rules and regulations for the state, and would be enforced by a foreign envoy from a developed nation (the article suggests Canada lol). This foreign nation would also be the state's guarantor, underwriting investments made by the private sector to produce all of the infrastructure for the city.

My guess is that he thinks this would kick start growth in the nation, as citizens who are genuinely motivated to improve their lives and earn a good living will give it a shot, and the presence (or lack of) political influence will mean that the system can be run as close to a model-able economy can be. These citizens can then head back into the nation at large and help expand the ideals learnt in the city state. Like most of these kinds of ideas, it sounds good in theory but may not hold in practise.

Although he might be onto something with this one. The Honduras Government, whose nation is gripped by poverty and are increasingly finding themselves caught up in the South American drug trade, appear to be interested in his idea. They have warmed to it, to the point of suggesting potential sites for the development.

So anyway, what are your thoughts on this idea? I can guess there will be the standard cynical reactions of "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH HE'S COMMUNIST NOT A FREE MARKET BLAAAAAAAH", but remember this is an isolated city state of about 10 square kilometres, not an entire nation. I for one am very interested to see, at first, whether it gets off the ground, then whether the private sector jumps on board.
I punch those numbers into my calculator and they make a happy face.

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Offline Riceball

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Re: "Charter Cities"
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2011, 08:22:03 PM »
Wow, no takers?
I punch those numbers into my calculator and they make a happy face.

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Offline ack44

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Re: "Charter Cities"
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2011, 10:00:33 PM »
Sounds cool.

wtf is the internet?

Offline rumborak

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Re: "Charter Cities"
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2011, 10:25:26 PM »
It would be a nice experiment to try, but I think the crux will be in the details. People are people after all; I think a lot of potential efficiency and idealism will be thwarted by that, just as it is around the world.

BTW, Honduras agreeing to this doesn't mean they're all clairvoyant visionaries. It most likely means they see this as a way of attracting capital to their country.

rumborak
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