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There's apparently still a Distributist Club at Glasgow University that participated in the political debates held in Glasgow University Union: https://universi

There's apparently still a Distributist Club at Glasgow University that participated in the political debates held in Glasgow University Union: https://universityofglasgowlibrary.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/moderate-radicals-the-distributists-at-glasgow-university/ https://universityofglasgowlibrary.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/...

geowwy 8y ago
Tumblar House recently did a podcast on distributism too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMpjApwfGA&t=748s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMpjApwfGA&t=748s
amelius 8y ago
Just curious, are they in favor of Brexit, or against it?
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago
  I would have assumed for it as the EU is clearly another form of centralised government and favours businesses that trade across borders so are larger. But when it comes to Brexit all bets are off.
  - matt4077 8y ago
    I run a 200,000€ revenue company that sells physical goods across the EU. Large companies have the resources to do the paperwork to sell across customs borders, I don’t. In this sense, the EU is more helpful to small companies than large ones. It effectively removes borders.
    - badpun 8y ago
      On the other hand, without the unified market, governments can engage in protectionism, and if they do, there's less of a chance that a small business will be crushed by a giant global competitor.
      - bobthechef 8y ago
        That's too simplistic. There are large differences between countries in the East and the West. Western corporations have had a field day in the EU's Eastern members precisely because of the relative economic advantages they have built up over 50 years following WWII and the massive restructuring of the economies of the Eastern members following the fall of communism. Free trade really only works when countries have some kind of parity (something Friedrich List argues). However, to the East's advantage, their economies are much more dynamic and the West is increasingly stagnating.
  - vanderZwan 8y ago
    > favours businesses that trade across borders so are larger You are right about the first part of that sentence, but wrong about the second. In many contexts the EU makes the international market more accessible for small businesses - it greatly reduces overhead that large companies can afford and small companies cannot. For example, having one central safety or health standard for all countries is a lot cheaper than qualifying for each country on an individual basis. That benefits every business involved, but for smaller ones this fixed overhead is a much more significant hurdle than for big ones.
    - bewo001 8y ago
      While this is all true, there is a tendency that big markets create big players. Eg. in the 1950s/60s, many European countries had several independent car manufacturers. The cheap car in your country may have been worse than a cheap car of your neighboring country, but it cost less for the lack of tariffs. The local manufacturer had your business. When the borders came down, the smaller companies could no longer compete.
      - 0815test 8y ago
        The general pattern is that big markets create big players, but also increase the amount of "effective" diversity and competition at the local level. The smaller automakers of the 1950s and 1960s were essentially monopolies in their own countries; whereas with the borders coming down, manufacturers are incented to both compete and diversify in a meaningful way, so that some fraction of them can hold on to their share of the bigger, unified market.
      - heavenlyblue 8y ago
        >> Eg. in the 1950s/60s, many European countries had several independent car manufacturers. The chance is that your point has nothing to do with the borders being open though.
        bewo001 8y ago
        Borders were certainly not the only factor. As car development became more expensive, only bigger players had the capital to do it. But different national regulations (eg in France head lights had to be yellow instead of white) and tariffs played a role.
  - talideon 8y ago
    OTOH, subsidiarity is explicitly a foundational principle of both the EU and Distributism.
- notahacker 8y ago
  If it's Glasgow they're probably more focused on campaigning for Scottish independence!

geowwy 8y ago

Tumblar House recently did a podcast on distributism too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMpjApwfGA&t=748s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMpjApwfGA&t=748s

amelius 8y ago

Just curious, are they in favor of Brexit, or against it?

tonyedgecombe 8y ago
I would have assumed for it as the EU is clearly another form of centralised government and favours businesses that trade across borders so are larger. But when it comes to Brexit all bets are off.
- matt4077 8y ago
  I run a 200,000€ revenue company that sells physical goods across the EU. Large companies have the resources to do the paperwork to sell across customs borders, I don’t. In this sense, the EU is more helpful to small companies than large ones. It effectively removes borders.
  - badpun 8y ago
    On the other hand, without the unified market, governments can engage in protectionism, and if they do, there's less of a chance that a small business will be crushed by a giant global competitor.
    - bobthechef 8y ago
      That's too simplistic. There are large differences between countries in the East and the West. Western corporations have had a field day in the EU's Eastern members precisely because of the relative economic advantages they have built up over 50 years following WWII and the massive restructuring of the economies of the Eastern members following the fall of communism. Free trade really only works when countries have some kind of parity (something Friedrich List argues). However, to the East's advantage, their economies are much more dynamic and the West is increasingly stagnating.
- vanderZwan 8y ago
  > favours businesses that trade across borders so are larger You are right about the first part of that sentence, but wrong about the second. In many contexts the EU makes the international market more accessible for small businesses - it greatly reduces overhead that large companies can afford and small companies cannot. For example, having one central safety or health standard for all countries is a lot cheaper than qualifying for each country on an individual basis. That benefits every business involved, but for smaller ones this fixed overhead is a much more significant hurdle than for big ones.
  - bewo001 8y ago
    While this is all true, there is a tendency that big markets create big players. Eg. in the 1950s/60s, many European countries had several independent car manufacturers. The cheap car in your country may have been worse than a cheap car of your neighboring country, but it cost less for the lack of tariffs. The local manufacturer had your business. When the borders came down, the smaller companies could no longer compete.
    - 0815test 8y ago
      The general pattern is that big markets create big players, but also increase the amount of "effective" diversity and competition at the local level. The smaller automakers of the 1950s and 1960s were essentially monopolies in their own countries; whereas with the borders coming down, manufacturers are incented to both compete and diversify in a meaningful way, so that some fraction of them can hold on to their share of the bigger, unified market.
    - heavenlyblue 8y ago
      >> Eg. in the 1950s/60s, many European countries had several independent car manufacturers. The chance is that your point has nothing to do with the borders being open though.
      - bewo001 8y ago
        Borders were certainly not the only factor. As car development became more expensive, only bigger players had the capital to do it. But different national regulations (eg in France head lights had to be yellow instead of white) and tariffs played a role.
- talideon 8y ago
  OTOH, subsidiarity is explicitly a foundational principle of both the EU and Distributism.
notahacker 8y ago
If it's Glasgow they're probably more focused on campaigning for Scottish independence!