The author frames this from the perspective of a government official making a choice, but I think the useful observation here applies to anybody making a choice

The author frames this from the perspective of a government official making a choice, but I think the useful observation here applies to anybody making a choice - that in periods of stability, the weight of the status quo is an impediment to development when the summed benefit of development is great, but the individual benefit is small, we choose the safe default option over the riskier option that might more honestly reflect our desires. Therefore times of (and after) chaos and catastrophe, are periods of rapid development, because the dead weight of the status quo is diminished. This seems a reasonable thing to say, and seems even more appropriate is you're mechanisms for development are decentralised.