FEW ECONOMICS conferences open with a burst of patriotic ceremony. But as the sun rose over the hills of California’s Simi Valley on May 30th, the pipes and drums of the Ventura County sheriff’s honour guard blared at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Attendees stood, hand on heart, for the pledge of allegiance and national anthem. “I always wondered what the shining city on the hill looked like and it’s pretty cool to see it,” quipped Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor.