Your comment also reminded me of Robin Hanson’s idea that policy debates are typically like tug of war between just two positions, in which case it may be best to “pull the rope sideways”. Hanson writes: “Few will bother to resist such pulls, and since few will have considered such moves, you have a much better chance of identifying a move that improves policy.”
That seems very similar to the idea that we may be at (or close to) the Pareto frontier when we consider only two dimensions, but not when we add a third, so it may be best to move towards the three-dimensional frontier rather than skating along the two-dimensional frontier.
Your comment also reminded me of Robin Hanson’s idea that policy debates are typically like tug of war between just two positions, in which case it may be best to “pull the rope sideways”. Hanson writes: “Few will bother to resist such pulls, and since few will have considered such moves, you have a much better chance of identifying a move that improves policy.”
That seems very similar to the idea that we may be at (or close to) the Pareto frontier when we consider only two dimensions, but not when we add a third, so it may be best to move towards the three-dimensional frontier rather than skating along the two-dimensional frontier.