Commentary: A Country Withered

Economic progress is a disruptive, dynamic force. Change is as pervasive as it is necessary. Crises not only can drive these changes but also reveal where change, or policy innovation, is most needed. Thus disruption has to be embraced as integral to the process of economic renewal and regeneration. And yet it is not an end in itself. Disruption for its own sake or without an adequate framework to catch the benefits for all of society is an empty populist goal. Whether it is from the Covid-19 pandemic or from Brexit, our economic and social structures must both flex in response to these shocks and must be sufficiently strong to survive. And the growing concern is that the very structures we currently have may cave in on themselves.