Learning and Bureaucracy

The market is an evolutionary process, in which selection forces actors to learn, and price conveys the information necessary for that learning. The pressure on the individual to innovate (or face losses) is not a pressure applied strictly to firm owners and managers- it is also applied to workers and job-seekers.

The Iraqi band Acrassicauda recently acquired refugee status and settled into a nice New Jersey metal band lifestyle. One of them explained their prior training and conditioning:

“We’re good at process,” said Mr. Riyadh, 24, who has previously used the name Marwan Hussain. “Going to the U.N.H.C.R.,” he said, referring to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “standing in a queue for three or four hours. We’re good at that. But musically, we need to practice.”

This reminded me of what Irina Pantaeva said of her training in Soviet Russia:

Neither of us knew how the fashion business worked in the West. That models carry thick books full of glossy pictures, and that they made appointments and worked with agents. We knew only what we had learned in Russia: if you want something, go to where it is and be prepared to wait.

In a bureaucratic country or system, there is no pressure applied that can force the individual to work, learn, innovate, or generally train themselves. Instead, they learn to wait on lines, fill out paperwork, and ask others for handouts. Expect a lot more of this kind of learning as government continues to rapidly grow, and a lot less innovation and new technology.