Who gets to be the utilities on the global Monopoly board?

by | Jan 24, 2008


From Der Spiegel via Matt Yglesias: Hasbro is planning to launch the first global version of Monopoly, and they’re canvassing votes for which cities should be included.  As Der Spiegel puts it, cities all over the world are urging residents to “vote early and vote often”: for

Forget a seat on the United Nations Security Council. The place where the citizens of the world can really play with the big boys is actually within reach: a place on the new global Monopoly board.

Nor is this just a game – not by a long shot:

The marketing potential of being included on the board has not escaped tourist authorities. Edinburgh, currently ranked 14th [but sliding – at the time of posting it’s fallen to 18th], is hoping to attract more visitors with the Monopoly midas touch. VisitScotland marketing manager Kathryn Macdonald told the BBC that it will give the already popular tourist destination a boost. “This is a fantastic opportunity for Scotland’s capital city,” she said on Tuesday, adding: “We encourage everyone to take the time to vote for their favorite city.”

A quick visit to the leaderboard shows that London is in the top two, and hence on track for one of the two coveted navy blue slots – along with Paris. 

But here at GD, we like to think we’re above these narrow parochial concerns.  What we’re interested in is who gets to be the two utilities.  One’s the United Nations, obviously.  But the other?

Author

  • Alex Evans

    Alex Evans is founder of Larger Us, which explores how we can use psychology to reduce political tribalism and polarisation, a senior fellow at New York University, and author of The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough? (Penguin, 2017). He is a former Campaign Director of the 50 million member global citizen’s movement Avaaz, special adviser to two UK Cabinet Ministers, climate expert in the UN Secretary-General’s office, and was Research Director for the Business Commission on Sustainable Development. Alex lives with his wife and two children in Yorkshire.

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