Nice review of the Price of Everything

I studied under Dr. Stephenson. It wouldn't surprise me, Russ, if he actually did use The Price of Everything as instructional material in one of his courses.

I am somewhat concerned that Roberts overstates the bit about not by human design but by human action from Hayek. (BTW, action is not the same as behavior–action involves intention and thought, although not design.) For instance, on page 41 Ruth says "But language isn't random. What emerges depends on what is useful…" (etc.) Now what is useful isn't innately known by us; it needs to be noticed or even figured out, so some kind of decision (design?) is involved. Sure, it is micro-design but it is design, nonetheless. Indeed, while ants and bees and the rest may be operating on automatic, because of instincts of whatever, human beings don't have too many instincts. (Suckling is one but gets extinguished soon after birth.) So what people may well be doing is making micro-decisions extremely fast–but that's not unusual, seeing how we do this when we drive or ride a horse, etc. So while no outside conductor or planner is needed for most of what we do–including in the market–it is no mindless process either. We make all kinds of quiet but important decisions, intelligent but not always self-conscious.