The Economist UK - 10.08.2019

14 The EconomistAugust 10th 2019

Letters are welcome and should be

addressed to the Editor at

The Economist, The Adelphi Building,

1-11 John Adam Street, LondonWC 2 N 6 HT

Email: [email protected]

More letters are available at:

Economist.com/letters

Letters

The satisfied stay home

I can think of at least one

reason why the increase in

happiness in European coun-

tries coincides with the rise of

populist parties (“The satisfac-

tion paradox”, July 13th). The

rise in happiness that has been

recorded in national surveys

does not necessarily affect

elections, as only a subset of

the population turns out. And

populist parties are more

successful at elections with a

lower turnout. The parallel rise

of happiness and populist

parties is not puzzling if the

satisfied tend to stay at home

on election day.

dominik schraff

Post-doctoral researcher

Centre for Comparative and

International Studies

ethZurich

Take Poland, for example. It

has enjoyed economic growth,

low unemployment and rising

living standards, and seen the

populist Law and Justice Party

romp home at elections. Voter

turnout hovers around 50%.

Why don’t half these Poles go

to the polls? Do they stay away

because they are happy, or are

they unsatisfied? Some might

believe that their single vote

does not matter. Some might

think that none of the parties

represents their views. What-

ever the reason, there is a

growing realisation that if only

some of those who stay away

could be persuaded to vote, the

rise of right-wing populists

could be forestalled.

piotr zientara

Associate professor of

economics

University of Gdansk

Thomas Jefferson did not think

of “the pursuit of happiness” in

terms of our inward-looking

contemporary scale of satisfac-

tion. It is an elusive turn of

phrase, but one closer to the

classical philosophical notion

of happiness as part of the

individual’s civic existence.

Through that lens, the pursuit,

that is, the attainment or prac-

tice, of happiness reflects the

virtuous life of the citizen

within the body politic. This is

the inverse of happiness as a

quantity to be measured and

exploited by politicians.

derek o’leary

Berkeley, California

Reform minded

Your obituary of Li Peng (July

27th) described Zhao Ziyang,

the general-secretary of the

Communist Party at the time of

the Tiananmen massacre in

1989, as a “seeming liberal”.

Indeed, when he ran Sichuan

province, Zhao allowed farm

prices to fluctuate, causing

production to increase. And in

1988 he invited Milton Fried-

man to be his only Western

consultant after China experi-

enced high inflation. Friedman

said that Zhao was the best

economist he had ever met in a

socialist country.

bertrand horwitz

Asheville, North Carolina

Citizenship test

Along with most other media,

The Economistreminded its

readers that three of the four

congresswomen who were

subjected to Donald Trump’s

rants were born in America and

the fourth is a naturalised

citizen (Lexington, July 20th).

It was commendable that you

described his language as

“racist” rather than “racially

charged”. However, one point

that is always overlooked is

that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

is not “of recent migrant stock”.

Puerto Ricans have been citi-

zens of the United States for

many decades. Her mother did

not emigrate to New York from

Puerto Rico any more than I

emigrated to New York from

Iowa. We simply moved.

It is unfortunate that Amer-

icans need to be reminded that

Puerto Rico is a United States’

territory and that Puerto

Ricans are American citizens.

joseph english

New York

One of the charges laid at the

door of liberals is hypocrisy,

the odious practice of preach-

ing values and promoting

solutions without accepting

any of the consequences. For

example, liberals (broadly

speaking) are keen to allow

asylum-seekers into their

countries, but not into their

own communities, where the

only outsiders who are perma-

nently welcome are those who

can afford the house prices and

private-school fees.

My suggestion is that you

bear some of the consequences

of your values. Why not con-

vert a small amount of space at

each of your offices around the

world into accommodation for

asylum-seekers? Your good

action would be widely pub-

licised and set an example that

might be replicated elsewhere.

That is, if your desire to defeat

Trumpian bigotry is genuine.

thomas hodson

London

Let plastic sink

Plastic pollution that remains

local to its source, either on

land or in shallow waters, is

certainly less of a problem than

the vast amount accumulating

in our global oceans

(Schumpeter, July 27th). Some

plastics are denser than water

and do not float. The lighter

plastics can incorporate heavi-

er particles in their polymer

resins to ensure they don’t

float either. Plastic bottles,

which otherwise float like

boats on the water surface, can

be shaped to flood easily and

thus sink rapidly.

It seems the packaging

companies and their heedless

customers are avoiding a sim-

ple and inexpensive fix to the

worst part of the plastic pollu-

tion problem. Plastics and

plastic bottles should all be

made to sink to the ocean floor.

ion yadigaroglu

Partner

Technology Impact Fund

New York

No comparison

You compared Boris Johnson

to Winston Churchill, because

both leaders “inherited” a

serious crisis (“Here we go”,

July 27th). I disagree. Mr

Johnson did not inherit, but

actively helped create this

Brexit crisis. He deserves no

comparison to Churchill.

jochem borren

Eindhoven, Netherlands

If Mr Johnson were to lose

power in the coming months

he may not, as you suggest, be

Britain’s “shortest-serving

prime minister”. Counting

only those who formed fully

effective ministries, he could

still beat George Canning, who

served as prime minister for 119

days in 1827. By a more gener-

ous definition, the record

could belong to the Earl of

Bath, who held office for 48

hours in 1746.

Horace Walpole comment-

ed that the earl “never

transacted one rash thing...and

left as much money in the

Treasury as he found in it”.

Sadly, Mr Johnson is also

unlikely to match these

accomplishments.

jacob williams

London

Mr Johnson’s closest parallel

may be neither Churchill nor

Neville Chamberlain but

Galba, the Roman emperor

who succeeded Nero in 68ad

but lasted only a few months.

The pithy and scathing assess-

ment of Tacitus was “omnium

consensu capax imperii, nisi

imperasset”. Rough transla-

tion: had he never become

emperor everyone would have

agreed that he had the capacity

to reign.

martin eaton

Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

The original rocket man

You mentioned China’s plan to

land someone on the Moon by

2035 (“The next 50 years in

space”, July 20th). This may be

a repeat visit by China. Accord-

ing to legend one Wan Hu

became the world’s first astro-

naut more than 4,000 years

ago by tying 47 fireworks to his

chair. The shear impact of his

landing on the Moon caused

the formation of a large crater,

which is named after him.

ted paul

Weymouth, Dorset