Wonks Anonymous never followed Pakistan very closely but he is not surprised by a story in yesterday's Times by Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah. It seems that the fertile Swat valley, now virtually controlled by the Taliban, has been run by a small number of landlords who have ruthlessly exploited the landless peasants and run the government and the courts.

The peasants did not join with the Taliban because they thought that the US was the great Satan or because they hate jews, who they have never seen in their lives. They helped the Taliban because they offered a legal system that was not run by the landlords.

Now back in the day before Ronald Reagan showed us the true way to fight communism with rockets and guns and hired terrorists - sorry freedom fighters - we though that land reform was one good way to counter revolutionary movements. Giving the peasants land defused a major grievance. It also created a strong, prosperous class of small landholders. They produced food, bought goods and supported the government.

It worked in Taiwan and South Korea although the approach was heavily criticized by various devotees of the free market and business interests. These were bothered by the idea that property rights might be suspended for mere national survival and prosperity.

Wonks Anonymous took price theory from one of these guys, Steve Cheung. He understood everything about China before the revolution and he had even proven that the system - a few landlords and lots of landless peasants - was economically efficient. In fact he had shown that it was the best possible system.

The only thing that he did not understand was why they had a revolution.

So maybe when we start trying to build civil society in Pakistan we should ask ourselves: What would Steve Cheung do? Then do the opposite.