Was Adam Smith Wrong?

Smith famously used the example of pin making to put over his argument that specialization of function improved efficiency. But Sunday's Times suggests this may be wrong, at least in some cases:

Carmakers' Big Idea: Think Small - New York Times: "THE contrast between old and new is even clearer in the way jobs are assigned to workers at the Dundee plant. During their shifts — 10 hours a day, four days a week — workers might be responsible for 18 to 20 spots on the assembly line, rather than be rigidly limited to one narrowly defined task. Indeed, each worker learns every job on the line, reflecting the plant's philosophy of 'anyone, anywhere, anything, anytime.'

The workers, who are U.A.W. members, had to go through a rigorous application and training process, and had to be accepted by plant managers rather than just being assigned by the union. Because they are using an entirely new approach, the managers accepted only two workers from other Chrysler factories. Others came from parts makers or other companies with U.A.W. workers. Despite the intensity, Jimmie Pierce, 36, says the job is a godsend to him. He recently lost his previous job when the Lear Corporation, a parts supplier, closed its plant in Romulus, Mich. In his 12 years there, he said, he stuck to his assigned tasks, even if a problem popped up. 'At Lear, someone else fixes it,' said Mr. Pierce, a second-generation autoworker. At his new job, where he supervises a team of workers, he said that 'you think of yourself more as part of a business.'"

Bush's Budget Proposal for Farm Service Agency

Budget of the United States Government, FY 2007:

"Improving the Effectiveness of Providing Support to Farmers

The Department's Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers farm programs and services through one of the Federal Government’s largest and most decentralized field office structures. This arrangement, which remains largely unchanged today, dates back to the 1930s when communication and transportation systems were limited by geographic boundaries. FSA currently has 2,351 county offices across the country, of which nearly 500 are within 20 miles of the next nearest office. Over 1,000 of these offices are staffed by three or fewer employees.

This outdated office structure is inefficient and must be streamlined to realign benefits and services with a rural America that has changed dramatically since the early part of the 20th Century. Today, the number of farmers has declined sharply and computers, modern telecommunications and transportation systems have increased farmers’ access to information and assistance without ever visiting a USDA field office.

To streamline operations, FSA must consolidate offices and invest in information technology tools to improve business operations and service delivery to farmers. Before investment in modern information technology is made, the agency will work with stakeholders to close and consolidate offices, where appropriate, and ensure that future investments are made prudently and in a manner that ensures taxpayers’ dollars are spent wisely. The Budget fully funds the agency’s staffing needs while targeting these resources to the agency’s more efficient offices, and includes funding to modernize FSA’s outdated computer systems."

The background is that the administration floated a proposal to close field offices last year which very quickly got shot down. They're now promising to work with Congress on the issue.

Now They Admit It

Virginia Democrats suffered from Gilmore's campaign to end the car tax (an annual tax based on value of your car) which was in 1997. He rode the issue to Richmond and the Reps rode it into control of the House of Delegates and Senate. Given the Clinton boom (might as well be partisan today) Gilmore had the surplus to start the process, even though it was obvious that he was digging a hole for the future. Mark Warner had to duck and dodge around the issue to get himself elected in 2001, but made a name by navigating through the Gilmore fiscal mess that resulted when the state went into a recession.

But now, that great organ of enlightened government, the Washington Times carries this piece: Officials sour on car-tax relief�

" 'Frankly, I wish it had never happened, even though I voted for it,' said Senate Majority Leader Walter A. Stosch, Henrico Republican. 'The car-tax program was a wonderful political decision but almost a nightmare for the state and for local governments.' "

Sad for Liberals

The NYTimes Business section today has a profile of the head of Brown University, Ruth Simmons--Doing It Right Matters .

I found this very sad:

"As an African-American, I was patronized pretty consistently by professors, so to finally have someone say to me, 'You know I think you are very smart but what you just said is dumb'... nobody had ever been honest with me before."

This might tie to David Brook's column today (Remaking the Epic of America) in which he sees a trend of popular sports movies with the gruff, tough coach and the working class team fighting against their adversary. Contrary to the 60's, the movies celebrate authority but like the 60's, they embrace equality--minorities and women. Uniformly the coaches are honest with their players. Perhaps that's one reason for their popularity.

Bureaucracy and Counting

Tim Harford has a piece at Slate: Who's the Greatest Artist of the 20th Century?
He uses this research to segue into bureaucracy:

"My former colleagues at the World Bank have also been counting away: How many official signatures does a farmer in the Central African Republic need to obtain before he's able to get his bananas on a ship bound for America or Europe? 38. How many official procedures must a businessman in Lagos go through in order to legally buy a warehouse? 21.

This kind of counting—done with the help of local lawyers and public officials—shares common ground with Galenson's work. It transforms a qualitative impression ('Nigerian bureaucracy is painful') into a quantitative fact; it does so through the intermediation of experts, and uses a perfectly transparent process."

There's a topic for someone--what history explains the cumbersome bureaucracy often found outside the developed world. (See De Soto's work for further discussion.)

(Who's the greatest artist: Picasso)

Legends, Myths, and Truth

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. Snopes.com does a debunk on this:

"Before Super Bowl XXII in 1988, a reporter asked Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, 'How long have you been a black quarterback?'

Humans value a good story over good facts.

DC Government More Efficient Than Private Business

Steven Pearlstein writes in the Post about his problems with bureaucracies, particularly Verizon. But he includes this nugget:

"While on this vacation, I discovered at 6:30 one morning that my wallet had been lost or stolen. Normally, this would have ruined my day. But by 8:30, using the hotel's Internet access and dialing some 800 numbers, I was able to order up three new credit cards, a new bank card and a new driver's license. When I returned home two days later, I found the replacement license from the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles in the mailbox. (Honest!) All the other cards arrived within the next two business days."

Back to Verizon--his wife was sold a one-stop solution for phones and Internet, but there wasn't good communication within Verizon on the different pieces. Pearlstein rightfully complains, but as a bureaucrat that's what you have to expect. It's much easier to present one face to the customer if the face is really a mask than to reengineer the reality.

Partisan Thought Is an Oxymoron--II

Jim Lindgren at The Volokh Conspiracy
passes on a Cass Sunstein report of an experiment on the effect of discussion on political views. The bottom line is that, when liberals talk to liberals and conservatives to conservatives, both groups get more extreme.

Cat People, This Administration??? No, Really

Who woulda thunk it?

Ready Kids, From the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Definitions Matter--a War is a War is a War

Via Washington Monthly James Carroll writes in the Boston Globe challenging the idea we're at war:

Is America actually in a state of war? "Iraq is not a war, because, though we have savage assault, we have no enemy. The war on terrorism is not a war because, though we have an enemy, the muscle-bound Pentagon offers no authentic means of assault."

I don't agree with everything he says, but I emphatically agree that determining whether the current state of affairs is a "war" is crucial. My answer is "no"--this is not a war, not a war between states, not a war of armies whose leader can be convinced to surrender. It may be a war as in the "war on organized crime" or the "war on cancer". But precision of language is vital.

My main concern about Guantanamo is the idea we're at war. It's inhuman to sentence prisoners when we can't define the conditions under which the sentence would end.

My doubt as to the "war" also underlies my position on NSA wiretapping. If we were at "war", as Judge Posner posits in the TNR (registration required), I'd be more comfortable with Bush's position. Bush does have historical precedents for his position. We Americans do accept Presidential excess in times of crisis--look particularly at the Civil War. In my case, and perhaps the case of many liberals, the fact is that we disagree with Bush's analysis of the current situation: we don't call this "war".