Scotland takes low road in secession vote

In my column this week for the Globe’s Economy Lab (in the ROB) I talk about the political, economic and moral consequences of secession votes under poorly designed rules as was the case in the Scottish vote yesterday. There are many reasons why the status quo is entitled to a presumption in its favour, and that presumption requires a high voting threshold to overcome.  Thus not only is a decision rule of 50% + 1 of voters actually undemocratic, it imposes many forms of cost on citizens through unnecessary uncertainty and encourages nationalist troublemakers to try repeatedly since the chances of success are relatively high under this ridiculously low threshold.