Recordkeeping is a core bureaucratic function. A recent scientific article, while cowardly eschewing the term bureaucracy, described these findings from economic experiments investigating recordkeeping:
Recordkeeping improves memory of past interactions in a complex exchange environment, which promotes reputation formation and decision coordination. Economies with recordkeeping exhibit a beneficially altered economic history where the risks of exchanging with strangers are substantially lessened.[1]
Bureaucrats engaged in recordkeeping develop reputations, coordinate decisions, and reduce risks. Can anyone doubt that bureaucrats beneficially altered economic history?
Ancient Mesopotamian civilization also demonstrates the importance of bureaucratic recordkeeping. Writing in ancient Mesopotamia arose from accounting, a particular type of recordkeeping. Even more noteworthy is that the most frequently copied record in ancient Mesopotamia was a list of titles and professions, arranged in a status hierarchy. The king topped the list, followed by “leader of justice,” “leader of the city,” “leader of the plow,” “leader of barley,” etc. This pioneering org chart was continuously copied in ancient Mesopotamia from 5000 to 4000 years ago. With 165 copies existing just in the corpus of surviving records from Uruk from about 5000 years ago, the org chart undoubtedly is a record of great importance.[2] Not just recordkeeping, but bureaucratic recordkeeping was at the center of ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
Other items in the bureaucratic record:
H. Josef Hebert at The Huffington Post describes the Interior Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fighting for jurisdiction over wind energy projects. This is an extremely promising development. Nothing can do more to generate wind than bureaucratic turf battles.
Hoystory notes the California Air Resources Board’s concern about black cars. Because black paint adsorbs more energy from sunlight than other colors, black cars require more energy to air-condition. We applaud this bureaucratic body for busily evaluating means to combat air pollution and global warming.
Mark J. Perry at Carpe Diem describes the New York State Insurance Department requiring a doctor to change his rate structure in order to avoid being regulated as an insurance entity. Bureaucracies are frequently accused of incessantly seeking more turf. We applaud the NYS Insurance Department for trying to help a doctor avoid insurance-company regulation.
Jeff Fecke at Blog of the Moderate Left notes that bureaucrats run the health care system. That’s comforting. He also observes:
The phone company, the cable company, the credit card company, the health insurance company — these are who Americans think of now when bureaucrats are mentioned.
These bureaucracies are at the center of modern American civilization. Ancient Mesopotamians would be pleased to see fruits of their historical leadership.
Beautiful Fractals displays an artwork entitled, “#24 – The Average Bureaucrat.” Truly beautiful.
In Bhutan, government bureaucrats are being laid off. That’s an ominous development for Bhutan. I suggest further study of whether this action is warranted.
In Russia, the number of government bureaucrats has doubled over the past year. This is a clear indication of further development of Russian civilization in accordance with the ancient Mesopotamian model.
Mike Masnick at Techdirt fails to appreciate newspapers’ bureaucratic development. He declares to be false “the idea that because most journalism originates from newspapers today, it must continue to do so in the future.” Concern for continuity, resistance to change, and perseverance in producing a series of similar documents are signs of bureaucratic excellence.
That’s all for this month’s Carnival of Bureaucrats. Submit your blog article to the next edition using our carnival submission form. Submissions should conform to the Carnival’s regulations. Past editions of the Carnival of Bureaucrats can be found on the Carnival’s category page.
Notes:
[1] Basu, Sudipta, John Dickhaut, Gary Hecht, Kristy Towry, and Gregory Waymire, “Recordkeeping alters economic history by promoting reciprocity,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 27, 2009, v. 106, n. 4, p. 1009.
[2] Nissen, Hans Jörg, Peter Damerow, and Robert K. Englund. Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 1993, p. 106.