If Niall Ferguson Ruled the World…

In a somewhat cheeky article, he says he’d stamp out all the rulers:

But information technology has changed the game of both corporate and political governance completely…

The world, in other words, has left behind the old top-down command structure. In its place has arisen a host of interlocking and overlapping networks. The positive “externalities” created by the mere existence of these networks can hardly be overstated. It is not that I buy the theory of the wisdom of crowds: people in the aggregate can and do make horrendous mistakes. It’s more that networks allow information to flow to where it is needed, making all kinds of markets work better. They may be prone to violent mood swings. But so, in case you hadn’t noticed, are rulers. And while markets may occasionally throw millions of people out of work, they tend not to murder them and toss them into mass graves.

So my answer to the question of what I would do if I ruled the world is quite easy. I would use my power for a period of, at most, a week, to stamp out traditional systems of rule and to replace outdated hierarchies with networks.