Authoritarian populist regimes have no use for technocrats who purport to serve the public good in the name of rationality. Where does that leave planners? Planners, like all technocrats, draw their authority from their specialized knowledge. Whether in government or the private sector, planners' know-how, experience and expertise is what gives the...

I was sincerely shocked by this news. You may be thinking of me as a naive fellow, yet I was not ready at all. Well I did already know that this kind of “polici...