One common point of feedback I received from my recent posts is that perhaps I’m a little too grounded in theoretical aspects, and not focused enough on what’s actually going on. As part of my plan to address this, I am digging in deeper into what the actual systems are; another path that will be worth taking to address this is to look deeper into the reality of the situations in the countries I am looking at, and try to illustrate why their systems are leading to better or worse outcomes (without denying cultural factors, of course; but 1) I have a better grasp on how to change constitutions than how to change cultures—in California, the former is actually quite straightforward as long as there’s public support, and 2) I suspect that culture is largely downstream of constitutions, with constitutions shaping incentives, and the incentives then shaping people’s beliefs and values; more aligned constitutions will ultimately lead to more aligned culture).
One common point of feedback I received from my recent posts is that perhaps I’m a little too grounded in theoretical aspects, and not focused enough on what’s actually going on. As part of my plan to address this, I am digging in deeper into what the actual systems are; another path that will be worth taking to address this is to look deeper into the reality of the situations in the countries I am looking at, and try to illustrate why their systems are leading to better or worse outcomes (without denying cultural factors, of course; but 1) I have a better grasp on how to change constitutions than how to change cultures—in California, the former is actually quite straightforward as long as there’s public support, and 2) I suspect that culture is largely downstream of constitutions, with constitutions shaping incentives, and the incentives then shaping people’s beliefs and values; more aligned constitutions will ultimately lead to more aligned culture).