William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > The invisible hand is as much a belief as invisible pink unicorns. The > 'free market' is just the composite action of people who are mostly > very stupid and ignorant.
Hmmm, I thought that was obvious enough to go without saying, but apparently not. The "invisible hand" is not real. It is symbolic. In the same way that evolution describes a random process governed by natural selection. There is no hand any more than there is an intelligent designer. But some people find it easier to think of it that way. It is a crutch. Better not to use it, but if you really need it, probably better than nothing. What is real are the results of a free(ish) market. It is observable. It seems to allocate resources in a way that results in progress in efficiently supplying what people demand while resulting in fewer violent disputes than the alternatives. Interestingly, while the people are "mostly" ignorant, there are a few experts, and they are dominant in setting the prices for the goods and services in which they are expert. There is an excellent description of the process in Russell Roberts science-fiction book "The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity". You can read the first two chapters at: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8733.html _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
