|Peter Boettke|
One of the most amazing things you come to realize once the economic way of thinking is absorbed into your mental framework is the phenomenal capcity of individuals to realize the gains from trade even in the most difficult of circumstances. There appears to be an infinite array of margins on which people can adjust their behavior to realize the gains from peaceful cooperation and productive specialization. Obstructions are constantly introduced, but the power of self-interest more often than not results in the discovery of a mutiplicity of ways to avoid the road blocks.
Once you become intellectually alert to this 'fact of the world', the economist comes to understand the mystery of the mundane and you possess a certain awe at the beauty of social cooperation under the division of labor. Here is a Reason TV episode dealing with NYC housing and the emergence of room renting, and how government authorities are reacting, etc. It is a very informative segement about the political economy of everyday life.
HT: Don Boudreaux
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