Fascinating perspective on The Market Monetarist on how "airports are reflections of the countries in which they are located" and how they "tell stories of economic, social and cultural development."
Over the years have given a lot of thought to exactly what we can learn about airport security and I for many years have had a theory that countries that have military style airport security and where the security staff generally see passages as ‘animals’ which potentially are a threat to security rather than clients that should be served also are countries where government regulation is excessive in other areas of economic life.
Hence, my theory is that if you meet an unfriendly bureaucrat at the security check in the airport then it is also very likely it will be hard to start a business in that country. Therefore, I tend to think of airport security as an indicator of the level of government regulation of the country’s economy. This is something that makes me terribly bearish on the US’ long-term growth perspectives every time I encounter a TSA official in an US airport — and makes me terribly depressed about the prospects for Ukraine and it gives me an understanding of why the Scandinavian countries ‘works’ well despite excessively large public sectors.