Undercover Economist  The scruffy economist  The Undercover
Economist – FT Magazine, 12 November 2005  The other day I was
hurrying to lunch on somebody else’s expense account at a very
nice Washington restaurant, The Oval Room. I began to fret that
clad in my weathered racing green leather coat, I had as much
chance of talking my way into the White House across the street
as getting past the maitre’d without a jacket and tie.
Summoning up indignation in advance, I angrily asked myself why
anyone would turn away the guest of a paying customer. Scruffs
pay the bill the same as anyone else, so isn’t the dress code of
jacket and tie commercial suicide?  Actually, the smart
restaurateur, armed with the swift feedback of market forces,
does what governments tend to find rather difficult: balance the
competing interests of different people. Some people will pay to
eat a meal surrounded by the smart set. Other people will pay to
eat a meal without having to dress up. The restaurateur gets to
decide whose wishes cou