What If We Just… Shut It All Down?

“If I let them compute the GDP, they’ll want to manage it.”

Sir John Cowperthwaite, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, 1961-1971

Following the end of World War II, the British Empire fell apart.

Its economy was wrecked and its manpower depleted.

The economics of colonial rule just no longer made sense. The juice was no longer worth the squeeze.

It was also a …