The author is an economist
“History teaches us that we cannot learn from history,” says the German philosopher Georg Friedrich Hegel. However, Slovakia has a new and historically first official government of experts, and this is the right moment not to give (at least once) Hegel, not Heger, the truth.
Wisdom also comes from learning from the mistakes of our predecessors. Let us therefore try to look at the past three years and believe that the new government and future governments will not repeat them, despite Hegel’s skepticism.
Let’s avoid bombastic statements like “the best government in history”
Economists Richard Lipsey and Kelvin Lancaster pointed out in the 1950s that a first-best policy applied in a second-best world will lead to [až] to the third best results. If we loosely apply this theory to the last two governments of Igor Matovič and Eduard Heger – and admit that some ministers were at best “second best experts” and the world of the last three years was far from “second best” – then it would certainly have been more reasonable to set expectations of the public so that the end of their rule does not cause a feeling of relief and the memory of the epithet “the best government in history” only an awkward smile.
As time progresses comes (natural) chaos
The second law of thermodynamics states that over time, the net entropy (degree of disorder) of any isolated or closed system (eg coalitions) will always increase (or remain the same). Entropy is simply a measure of disorder and affects all aspects of our daily lives. Without sufficient control, the mess increases. Energy dissipates and the system dissolves into chaos, as indicated by the Greek origin of the word entropy, which translates as “turning toward transformation.” That transformation is chaos. Our former coalition, as a closed system, therefore, from its beginning, naturally headed towards chaos (which only benefits the “anti-fragile” systems or persons we also have in our politics). It could only be prevented by sufficient and permanent control by the leader of the strongest party and the government (ideally in one person). It didn’t happen, and the result is the famous dialogue from Hemingway’s book The Sun Also Rises:
“How did you go bankrupt?” asked Bill.
“Two ways,” said Mike, “gradually and then suddenly.”