Tyler Cowen: Why Brexit is so important [feedly]

I usually don't take Tyler Cowen (R-libertrian economist and author of Blog/Zine Marginal Revolution) seriously despite his being clever at times.

AND, the UK is 1/5 the size of the US so the UK crisis is not identical to the nationalist expressions -- or its targets -- in the Trumpian US. Nonetheless there is one striking similarity being "tested" --- CAN ESTABLISHED DEMOCRACIES MANAGE THE TRANSFORMATIONS AND INEVITABLE (?) LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY UNLEASHED BY GLOBALIZATION?????

Why Brexit is so important
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/12/why-brexit-is-so-important.html

In this dilemma, I think of U.K. citizens as a kind of stand-in for the human race. Per capita income and education in the U.K. are well above the global average and, more important, Great Britain has one of the most firmly established democratic traditions in the world. So if the U.K. cannot get this decision right, it's pretty gloomy news for all of us. I am reminded of the scene in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal," where the traveling knight has to play a game of chess against the figure of Death, and his life will be spared if he wins…

Paul Krugman opined recently that Brexit would likely cost the U.K. about 2 percent of GDP, a fair estimate in my view. But that is not the only thing at stake here. Humanity is on trial — more specifically, its collective decision-making capacity — and it is the U.K. standing in the dock.

I'll be glued to my seat, watching.

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