Tag: knowledge problem
Why does liberty work?
January 19, 2023 | Post
Advocating for liberty is both idealistic and realistic. What is it that makes liberty “work” in a way that central planning cannot?
The best person to plan your next flight is you
October 24, 2016 | Post
There’s more to travel than the sticker price of different ways of getting from point A to point B.
The Cajun Navy at the Prow: How Civil Society Responds to Disaster
September 22, 2016 | Post
Because the Cajun Navy consists of local volunteers who operate “on the ground” (or above the ground, on the water), they have access to local knowledge that other entities do not. Economist F.A. Hayek’s claim that knowledge is both dispersed and specific to time and place requires that we consider how various institutional structures are able or unable to make use of knowledge.
The Consequences of Ignoring Economics in Public Policy
July 12, 2016 | Post
Why does economic education matter? Look no further than the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, where the Washington Post is reporting that food shortages are so bad that people are attacking food trucks when they make deliveries. It all started when Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, tried to formulate public policy while ignoring economics. […]
Quote of the Day: Hayek on Knowledge
April 5, 2016 | Post
For more Hayekian insight into the extent and constraints of human knowledge be sure to read Hayek’s seminal work, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (pdf).
On Demand Program of the Week: The Price is Right
February 8, 2016 | Post
Why does your iPhone cost $200.00? Why is the price of gas so volatile? What gives Uber the right to enact “surge pricing”? It’s easy to think of prices and profit as symbols of greed and corporate power, but prices are really just bits of compressed information that save you time and effort! What do […]
Quote of the Day
December 29, 2015 | Post
Trivia: Did you know this about Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales?
December 10, 2015 | Post
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, was influenced Friedrich Hayek’s essay, “The Use of Knowledge in Society” which argues that information is decentralized. You know it’s true, because it says so on Wikipedia, but if you’re looking for other sources, it’s corroborated by this New Yorker article, and Wales even went on EconTalk with Russ Roberts […]
We should DO something!
December 7, 2015 | Post
Shamans knew they could bend the credulous to their will (and make a boatload of money) if the shaman could predict something like a storm, or an eclipse. “This very evening, the Night Wolf will devour the Moon Virgin! But if you pay me many coins of silver, I will force Night Wolf to cough […]
Quote of the Day
November 17, 2015 | Post
For more from Hayek on what he and fellow Austrian economists referred to as the knowledge problem be sure to check out Hayek’s seminal essay, “The Use of Knowledge in Society.”
On Artificial Intelligence, the Knowledge Problem, and Consumerism
November 15, 2015 | Post
Learn Liberty recently released a video titled “What if There Were No Prices? Railroad Thought Experiment” with Professor Howard Baetjer of Towson University. The video argues that market prices communicate the value of goods and services in the economy so that those goods and services are allocated to their most productive (and value generating!) uses. […]
High Prices Convey Information, not Criminality
November 6, 2015 | Post
Last month’s record flooding in South Carolina brought renewed crackdowns on price gouging. But higher prices simply convey information – in this case that consumers should conserve and producers should produce. In this way, prices allow the shortages that occur in natural disasters to be alleviated. In the new Learn Liberty video below, Towson University […]