The stability and quality of democracy affect economic growth and the business environment — increased polarisation also carries corporate risks, including that of boycotts. Behavioural experiments increasingly find partisan polarisation seeps into all sorts of consumer decision-making as well, says Laura Jakli.
"Immigrants might generate congestion, especially in the short run and if migrant flows are large and sudden. However, there is no evidence in my work to show immigrants increase crime or reduce health. Moreover, my research indicates that sometimes, the impression that immigrants lead to public goods congestion is driven by the choice of natives who, because of immigration, decide to cut public or welfare spending," Tabellini.
"Ironically, they did this with advice from Hong Kong real estate tycoons and other overseas Chinese businesspeople. Initially, these markets were more decentralised — that was then reversed as authorities got nervous about the instability that comes with dispersed market activity. The CCP designated municipal governments as the owner of urban land. They also recentralised tax revenue, overturning perceived inequalities among local governments but leaving almost all expenditure burdens, from infrastructure to unemployment insurance, etc., on the latter," Rithmire said.