I, Pencil: The Movie

Our friends at the Competitive Entreprise Institute has just put "I, Pencil: The Movie" up on YouTube.  I invite everyone to take a look.

Competition vs. Conflict

Last week President Obama said that we do not live in autarky.  In other words, one person did not build a business, he had help.  Well, duh!  No one argues that we should each live in solitude, not even the more ardent Randian Objectivist.  


So what is he really getting at?  He is trying to emphasize that communities need to work together.  Fine.  However, his emphasis is on the public sector's "contribution" to society.  Here are a few thoughts on this...


First, before government can make any contribution to society, it must first take from society.  Just because the public sector has spent money on an area, e.g., roads, schools, etc., it does not mean that such things would not be produced if the private sector was left alone.  In deed, the public sector tends to crowd out the private sector whenever it does anything.  Additionally, the public sector is unable to determine whether it is spending money efficiently and thus is always more wasteful of resources than the private sector.


Secondly, autarky may be a starting point for economic theorizing, but it does not mean that we stay there.  Austrians almost always start with the assumption of a lone individual on an island when developing theories of capital and interest.  However, one of the most important insights of all of economics is the Law of Comparative Advantage, which Mises takes to the level of the individual and calls it the Law of Association.  It says that when we specialize and trade, we are made better off.


Finally, many on the left simply do not understand how a free society works.  At the center of the economic system all they see is one person trying to out-compete all rivals--doing whatever it takes to get resources for that dollar of profit.  This conception of the market economy is a skewed envisioning by Marx and the left.  


While there is competition, to be sure, the market cannot operate at odds with itself.  The market is less about competition than it is about harmony.  Consumers have preferences that are subjective and unknown to the producers of goods and services.  Manufacturers have resources and plans to make goods, but do not know which goods to make and in what quantity or quality.  The problem that faces every society is to convert the resources into  goods and services, but not just random goods and services.  They need to make items that satisfy the most intense wants and desires first, and then work down the consumers' preference list.  The market coordinates the conversion of these resources through the use of the price system.  The result is a harmony of action.  Different firms, through trial-and-error, through profit and loss, through competition discover the best combination of resource blends.  The result is that more people are served with less waste than any other system ever.


The reason why the left, Marxists in particular, focus on the single aspect of competition is that they view the world through the lens of conflict.  Marxism is born from Hegelianism.  Hegel saw the world in terms on conflict.  There is a thesis, which is today's mainstream.  Through time, a reaction builds in opposition to it, the antithesis.  A conflict eventually ensues and a synthesis emerges.  For Marx, the Monarchy was the thesis and the exploited were the antithesis.  The result that emerged from the French and American revolutions were the rise of Capitalism.  Capitalism is the new thesis, in which the proletariat will rise up against the bourgeoisie.  The result of this conflict will be Communism.  To the Marxists, the totality of history is conflict, so why should the internal workings of a free society be any different?


What a horrid way to look at the world--conflict, fighting and death!  A vision of a free society is one of liberty and one of individual responsibility.  In this vision, I need you and rely on you so that I can better myself.  When I trade with you, we are not in conflict, we are mutually helping each other.  We are both made better off by the trade.  A free society is the furthest thing from autarky.  If, in college, our President read Bastiat instead of Marx,  I doubt he would be able to make such foolish statements.

Problems and Prices on FEE TV

Hollywood is known for making "magic," likewise the staff at FEE TV should also be congratulated for making me look presentable. Thank you guys.

Hmmmm… Economic Harmony

This summer I have been fortunate enough to be asked to lecture at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) for several of their summer secessions. During my prep work, a lingering idea hit me with more force this year.

The word “equilibrium” is a terrible, horrible word to use in economics. It does not convey what economists mean. The word equilibrium is borrowed from the natural sciences—physics. It means a state of rest. Imagine a ball rolling down a hill into a valley. It swings up one side and then back down; up the other and then down, etc. until it comes to a state of rest. It stops. It will stay at rest until another outside force acts upon it. The ball is in equilibrium.

Now here is what an economist is looking at…There are millions of individuals making choices. Each one has an independent subjective point of view on life. Each buyer decides if a good or service is or is not worth the price asked. Each seller is attempting to get customers to buy their products and make as much money as they can, while constrained by competitors and fickle consumers. Economists describe these actions and behaviors through the use of supply and demand models. When the price is too high there is a surplus of goods that go unsold. When the price is too low, there is a shortage and group of frustrated buyers. However when the price is just right, the amount of goods wanted and offered match perfectly. The market clears and no one goes home frustrated, at least with respect to the market. One can always find something to be frustrated about.

It is this balance between supply and demand that economists use the word “equilibrium.” However, economists do not mean a state of rest where nothing is going on. There is definitely something happening. People are happily trading and no one is angry about not getting enough or having too much.

I think that the 19th century French economist Frederic Bastiat may have gotten it right when he called his book on the overall economy Economic Harmonies.

“Harmony” is a much better word to use than “equilibrium.” Harmony means the complementary actions of many weaving together a greater whole. Think of a symphony. The strings, the brass, the woodwinds, all coming together that create a larger work of art. In the same way, the economy is a process of harmonization. The economy is many people working together, comprehending, complementing, completing projects, tasks, ideas so that others will be served. If customers are not served, the business closes.

The economy is truly a marvelous, beautiful work of art.