Results of Human Action But Not of Human Design
15 January 2009
Editor, Washington Post Book World
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
E.J. Dionne reminds us of one of F.D.R.'s beliefs - a belief that Mr. Dionne shares: "'We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature,' Roosevelt said, directly countering the central premises of orthodox economics. 'They are made by human beings.'" ("Audacity Without Ideology," January 15).
Really? Which legislature created the fact that the more scarce is something the more valuable is that something? Which potentate first dictated that consumers will respond to, say, a lower price of apples by seeking to buy more apples? Which judge ruled that firms are more likely to build big, costly factories the larger are their expected markets? Which bureaucracy issued the regulation declaring that the division of labor is a source of increased outputs?
Untold amounts of human misery have been caused by the naivete of persons, like Mr. Dionne, who suppose that just because some aspects of reality are the results of human actions that these aspects are also the results of human design and, hence, can be rather easily re-designed to suit some intellectual's romantic fancy.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, Washington Post Book World
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
E.J. Dionne reminds us of one of F.D.R.'s beliefs - a belief that Mr. Dionne shares: "'We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature,' Roosevelt said, directly countering the central premises of orthodox economics. 'They are made by human beings.'" ("Audacity Without Ideology," January 15).
Really? Which legislature created the fact that the more scarce is something the more valuable is that something? Which potentate first dictated that consumers will respond to, say, a lower price of apples by seeking to buy more apples? Which judge ruled that firms are more likely to build big, costly factories the larger are their expected markets? Which bureaucracy issued the regulation declaring that the division of labor is a source of increased outputs?
Untold amounts of human misery have been caused by the naivete of persons, like Mr. Dionne, who suppose that just because some aspects of reality are the results of human actions that these aspects are also the results of human design and, hence, can be rather easily re-designed to suit some intellectual's romantic fancy.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Sunday June 7, 2009 at 5:38pm