A new conservatism
At the present time, in theory at least, both major political parties are committed to a policy of economic growth. The principal difference is that, whereas the Tories believe that this is to be obtained through private enterprise and the free market, Labour insists that the state must be the principal engine of growth and change. The electorate, in short, is offered a choice between (half-hearted) liberalism and (half-hearted) socialism. The startling innovation of Dr Edward J. Mishan, who writes on page 44 of this issue, is to .come up with what amounts to a closely argued economic case for conservatism.
Dr Mishan takes for granted that, as between the official Tory and Labour hypo- theses, the free market is as powerful an agent of growth and change as anything the state could possibly devise; but he also insists on the fundamental conservative truth that change (which is inseparable from growth) can be for the worse as well as for the better — and frequently. is. It is not necessary to accept his extreme contention that the inven- tion of the private automobile is one of the great disasters to have befallen the human race to be aware of the ambivalence of material progress.
In an ideal world, public policy would be as much concerned with avoiding change for the worse as facilitating change for the better: that this is not so, argues Dr Mishan, is pri- marily the fault not of the free markt but of the legislative framework in which it operates. He thus advocates a change in the law to create an extension of private property— again, a much more tory suggestion than anything at present proposed by the Conser- vative party—through the creation of 'amenity rights.' As he comments in his book The Costs of Economic Growth, `leaving out the problem of hard-core poverty in Britain, one should not expect any great accession of social welfare from attempts to accelerate the trend towards a more equal distribution of disposable income and wealth. In contrast, one may anticipate immediately perceptible benefits from the introduction of legislation to curb the chief sources of dis- amenity that afflict our daily lives.'
Economic liberalism is one of the most valnahle_ strands in contemporary Toryism. But at a time when modern technology threatens to shake our windows and shatter our lives with sonic boom, politicians would do well to listen to the unfashionable voice of Dr Mishan's economic conservatism. Next week Mr Angus Maude will provide a politician's contribution to this important debate.
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