We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day – The numbers don’t add up

The economist who says a policy will probably raise employment, other things being equal, is telling the truth as far as it goes. The one who says employment will rise by exactly 2.3% has mistaken a guess for a measurement, and dressed the guess up in a suit it did not earn.

Markets do not work because they are mathematically optimal but because they let millions of separate judgments, made by people with knowledge no central model could ever gather, correct each other in real time. That is not a formula. It is closer to a conversation, conducted in prices instead of words, and no economist has yet written an equation that listens as well as a market does.

– Madsen Pirie

1 comment to Samizdata quote of the day – The numbers don’t add up

  • Deep Lurker

    Theoretical perfect markets are mathematically optimal, and can be matched, but not bettered, by socialist economies made perfect by literal divine intervention. Actual real-world markets are imperfect, but degrade much much MUCH more gracefully than actual real-world socialist economies. As in the difference between Hong Kong under the UK and Cambodia under Pol Pot more gracefully.

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