Nor is extreme parochialism the only problem: arrogance plays its part. In a talk at a conference a few years back, Harvard economist Ken Rogoff made the usual assertion about banknote discounts. At lunch I tried to correct him, pointing to the contrary non-US evidence. 1/

Rogoff responded with extreme smugness. Proclaiming himself an expert on the matter, he noted that Scottish banknotes today do not circulate at par _in England_! It didn’t seem to occur to him that these were two different countries with separate banking systems and laws!