ABSTRACT
The old economics was mostly economics. The new economics is mostly politics. A decentralized party system and a highly fragmented national political system with strong regional interests proved resistant to making decisions on economic grounds. Consideration of the problems surrounding public preferences will help throw the many political dilemmas into sharper focus. The provision of subsidies on behalf of the aesthetic minority might suggest that a unitary and centralized political system would be more receptive to demands of this nature. Political elites are far more likely to share the preferences of the aesthetic minority than are the mass of people. A system like the American one that provides special opportunities for skillful and well-organized minorities would appear well suited to the characteristics of the aesthetic few. Subunits within larger multipurpose agencies dealing with extensive geographical areas might be used to great advantage in the cause of the aesthetic minority.
