Today, I bring you two excellent articles, both published on the Laissez-Faire Books website, extolling the virtues of the free market in general, and the benefits of the division of labor in particular.
The Market for Squirrel Catchers
In this article, economist Bob Murphy gives an excellent real life example of how the free market works far more efficiently than any bureaucracy ever could.
If someone were actually running for dogcatcher, I would want to know his previous experience in catching dogs. This is a demonstrable, objective skill that someone either has or does not have. I certainly couldn’t get elected dogcatcher. Could you? In any event, it would be silly to pick dogcatchers via elections — we should let the market do so, so we end up with professional companies using trained professionals, just as the market for squirrel catcher demonstrates.
In this piece, Jeffrey Tucker uses the example of the twinkie (in light of the Hostess bankruptcy) to once again remind us of the near-miracles (to channel my inner Violent J) that the division of labor can produce. Tucker is basically a perspective machine, whose calling in life is to regularly remind us of how amazing modern society is and how much of it we take completely for granted.
No, it would never existed in an economy planned by the government. Moving mountains and shipping ingredients all over the world just to please you and me? It would never be allowed. Plus, there is no way a government planner could make it happen. The processes are too complex and carefully calibrated by the price system to be economically feasible.
Dude, Where's My Freedom? 