People keep on forgetting about scale. Places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, are able to prosper despite being autocratic or semi-autocratic because they&#x27;re cities. Similarly, New York has had relatively authoritarian mayors (by U.S. standards) in the past and improved because of it. But it&#x27;s a far cry to say that such a national (or even major provincial) ruler would have the same sort of results. And the price to pay would be tyranny.