In the late 2000s, the fatal-accident rates of Chinese airlines were lower than those of airlines in Europe and the United States, even as Chinese carriers spent more and more hours in the sky. The culture of safety in China’s skies did not come from centuries of Confucian culture and respect for authority. It came from a decisive intervention that overhauled China’s aviation sector inside of a decade.

During the 1990s, China’s aviation rules failed to keep pace with the rapid growth and technical change in its airline industry. Travel within and abroad became more accessible but a lack of effective rules led to a series of fatal crashes between 1990 and 2002, leaving Chinese airlines with a reputation as some of the most dangerous in the world. China’s air-safety turnaround after 2002 illustrates the power of copying and implementing good rules.

Managers consider a fishery collapsed in a given year if the harvest from that year is less than 10 percent of the maximum recorded harvest. In 2003, roughly 27% of the world’s fisheries were collapsed. Should fisheries mismanagement continue apace, the collapsed share of world fisheries will grow even larger. One estimate from the journal Science suggests universal collapse as early as 2048.

A combination of improvements in fishing technology and unchecked access to fisheries led to this unfortunate outcome. Collapsed fisheries highlight the fact that sustainable growth and development rely on something more than just the power of technology. The ideas behind fishing nets and trawlers fit nicely into the category of technology, but there’s another category of ideas needed to ensure a sustainable catch: rules.

According to the New York Times, the new mayor of New Orleans, who campaigned on a promise to reform the city’s police department, recently asked the federal Department of Justice to intervene. The city’s police department, he wrote, has been described as one of the worst in the nation.

“This assessment is made based on several indications, including the number of violent crimes, incidents of rape, and malfeasance by members of the police department. It is clear that nothing short of a complete transformation is necessary and essential to ensure the safety for the citizens of New Orleans.”

Proximity to millions of people means more sharing of ideas, greater cultural amenities, a wider variety of goods and services, and more diverse job opportunities. It can also mean greater exposure to crime, congestion, pollution, disease, and violence. Keeping the costs of proximity in check sometimes requires stronger and more intrusive government than people in less densely populated areas are used to.

Because the conventional economic analysis of crime treats norms as exogenous, it may be missing much of the action on the front lines. Creative enforcement strategies — like those employed in Bogotá, New Dehli, and New York — don’t just change behavior. They change norms.

The New Enterprise blog on America.gov facilitates discussions between entrepreneurs from the United States and the rest of the world. Ikuemonisan Banabas Ayobami, co-founder of the Glimmer of Hope Foundation in Nigeria, recently discussed the importance of role models with Paul. Role models like Ayobami can instill in young people the productive and pro-social norms that greatly enhance the prospects for individual and economy-wide prosperity.

The Jamaican government, led by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, recently announced that it would extradite Christopher Dudus Coke to the United States on charges of trafficking drugs and guns. Shortly after the announcement, violent clashes broke out between the Jamaican security forces attempting to apprehend Coke and the armed gangs in his stronghold of Tivoli Gardens in west Kingston. As of May 26, The New York Times reported a death toll of 44 in the clash.

Paul recently spoke at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin where he had a chance to speak with the editor of Germany’s Development and Cooperation Journal editor Hans Dembowski. You can read the full interview here.

HD: Isn’t the idea of starting a new city and deliberately defining new rules undemocratic and authoritarian?

PR: Rules may be legitimate to people because they voted for officials who made the rules. The same rules may be legitimate to others because they opted to move to a place where they apply. Many migrants respect the rules in destination countries. Nobody should be forced to come to what I’ve called a charter city, but more poor people should have the choice of moving somewhere with more opportunities. Charter cities would eventually develop systems of full democratic participation. Right now, the world needs more healthy new cities to accept the millions who want a change.

Paul answers questions about charter cities from Center for Global Development vice president Lawrence MacDonald.

Q: To some people, this is going to sound like a new version of colonialism or imperialism. Is it?

A: Let me pose a related question: Suppose a family from Haiti is granted the right to live in Vancouver as permanent residents but not as Canadian citizens. Is it colonialism or imperialism to offer this option to them? Or for them to accept? Because the family would be free to make the choice about whether to live in Canada, the answer is plainly no.

In the same way, charter cities are based entirely on voluntary actions. Only a country that wants to establish a charter city will do so. Only people who want to live and work under the rules specified in the city’s charter will move there. Free choice is essential for the legitimacy of the rules in a charter city. It is also what makes a charter city very different from colonial occupation.

Robin Young, host of WBUR’s Here & Now, recently interviewed Paul about charter cities, specifically the notion that charter cities could create more choices for Haitians.