Tyler Cowen: belief

Transcript context

…It is cold. And all Canadians live in a very narrow strip of Canada. The population distribution is, as you would expect, extraordinarily compressed. In effect, geographically, it functions like a very nice northern province of the US with an immense and entertaining hinterland. They will get mad at you for saying that. To me, it feels more like a series of independent city-states on our margins, but I think I would find it problematic to live in a city-state, even in the US. When I go to Texas, I feel comfortable. It’s like I’m in a big country. But when I go to Rhode Island, I feel claustrophobic. But also, the city-state model historically, the most dynamic . . . If you think of, obviously, Venice as a city-state, but even quasi city-states, like you can see the Low Countries in the 17th century as quasi city-states functioning within a landscape of empire. But they have tended to be influential, in part, because of their geographic placement. Maybe that matters less globally than it once did, but it still feels like Toronto is a terrific city, but it’s not . . . If Toronto were dropped down in a different part of the world, it might be a more influential city.…

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