tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8452971772436653664.post8129816378213745371..comments2024-03-02T00:37:33.258-08:00Comments on dcomerf: Independence & my PhDdcomerfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18378883188453226827noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8452971772436653664.post-519084044621914002013-03-21T13:07:17.171-07:002013-03-21T13:07:17.171-07:00"...we can see in the data that trade between..."...we can see in the data that trade between locations within a nation state is higher than trade between locations in independent countries."<br />As you say, this is an argument for staying together. I suppose that the obvious way to argue this point and yet still argue against a 'one world government' would be to suggest that the citizens of a country tend to share economic, political and cultural beliefs and opinions. Under this thought process, is Scottish Independence the correct debate to be having?<br />A quick look at the BBC's 2010 election map shows that Labour won more seats (than any other party) in Scotland, the North East, the North West and Wales. Perhaps the debate should not be about Scottish independence, but the South of England and the Midlands becoming independent from the rest? I guess that just kicks your question further down the road though...<br />As for your key research question at hand, I’m not sure where these improvements could come from – this implies that we are currently constrained by being a part of the UK. Is there much evidence of this?<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01892288878216649253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8452971772436653664.post-64616793802189217192013-03-14T08:10:18.656-07:002013-03-14T08:10:18.656-07:00'Given this, what is the optimal scale of gove...'Given this, what is the optimal scale of government and the optimal size of countries?'<br /><br />'...do we have any reason to believe that an independent Scotland would lead to improved factor allocations, improved factor accumulation or improved aggregate output, relative to a Scotland governed within the UK framework?'<br /><br />The Fabians have been thinking about this a bit in the Scottish context - trying to go beyond the Yes/No question. I was at a seminar a couple of weeks ago in the Parliament where the point was made that there is plenty more we could do without independence. But what do we want to do and what powers do we need? There's even a group devoted to this very idea! See http://www.devoplus.com/<br /><br />One thought about the role of governance is as 'standardisation'. So the scope of a layer of governance would co-extend over what should be equalised within its area of jurisdiction. I guess there may be an economic efficiency argument there in terms of marginal costs.<br /><br />A very interesting piece by Marc Stears (political philosopher and pal of Ed Miliband's apparently - wrote David first time round oops!) on this topic and the 'relational state' from the IPPR. http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/9888/the-relational-state-how-recognising-the-importance-of-human-relationships-could-revolutionise-the-role-of-the-statediarmid weirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16073514967921006788noreply@blogger.com