With democratisation has come a radical decentralisation of political power and the way in which resources are allocated.
They soon became interested in the idea of circular economies, in which resources are kept in use for as long as possible.
Opie said it was important to look at the whole life-cycle of products, from production to selling, use and disposal, to help cut down on waste and create a "circular economy" in which resources could be re-used.
In spite of billions of pounds poured in by government (often in the wrong places), they live in highly deprived communities and find the way in which resources are rationed between themselves and "others", is opaque and unfair.
11.11am BST Circular economy package launched The recycling targets are a small part of the EU's attempt to steer the continent towards a future in which resources are used again and again.
Asked about the payments, a Cabinet Office spokesman said: "In a 60-year alliance it is entirely unsurprising that there are joint projects in which resources and expertise are pooled, but the benefits flow in both directions".
Indeed, in most environments, controls lead to "rent-seeking" behaviour, in which resources are diverted from productive activity and instead are used to try to win import licenses, or to get the necessary bureaucratic permissions.
We have a situation in which resources are sitting idle looking for uses — massive unemployment of workers, especially construction workers, capital so bereft of good investment opportunities that it's available to the federal government at negative real interest rates.
Imagine a world, he said, in which resources are increasingly concentrated in the hands of those with high propensities to save and low propensities to invest: reserve accumulating foreign governments, for example, and the very rich.
Indians continue to vote in high numbers because of pride in having secured the ballot through the freedom movement, the immense social pressure often exercised through caste and community channels, and the way in which resources are distributed by the electoral victor.
Asked about the NSA payments, the American demands and the concerns that the UK might be vulnerable to being pushed about, the Cabinet Office said: "In a 60-year close alliance it is entirely unsurprising that there are joint projects in which resources and expertise are pooled, but the benefits flow in both directions".
