The Undercounted Economic Benefits of Low Diversity and Trust
4th December 2011
Jehu reminds us of what America used to be like.
My wife and little ones are big fans of going to the beach, even though beaches in Oregon and Northern California aren’t about swimming. On the way to many of our favorite spots though, we pass through lots of extremely white small towns on the coast. One thing that jumps out is the very high levels of trust that persist there (the second being the celebrity treatment my two little tiny redheads get from the many grandparents that inhabit such places). Here is an example—it strikes me as profoundly alien every single time I pass it because of all the things it implies.
In the middle of a very small parking lot—really more of a spot where one could pull off the coastal highway than a parking lot honestly—there are stacks of bundles of firewood, and a sign advertising them for sale for the customary $5 or so. Next to the sign is a bucket where you can put your payment. That’s it. No watchman or clerk, no cameras…Nothing. But it’s been here for years now, so apparently the guy who cuts the wood must not get ripped off often. This speaks to positively alien levels of trust by the standards of the societies that I’ve been a part of.
Just to hammer the point home with a large mallet, try doing that in a place that has large numbers of black or Latino people.