… is from page x of Steven Landsburg’s new book, Can You Outsmart an Economist?, my copy of which arrived in today’s mail:
Economics is, first and foremost, a collection of tools for seeing beyond the obvious.
DBx: Yes – and the most-important non-obvious phenomenon that sound economics reveals to minds’ eyes that would otherwise be blinkered is the reality of emergent order in society in general and in the economy specifically.
To the human mind, it is not obvious that multitudes of individuals can live together and cooperate with each other peacefully and productively without the direction of a superior and powerful being – usually these days thought of as the state. Economics taught well and learned deeply not only makes this non-obvious reality real and palpable, it exposes the folly of attempts to improve wholesale upon emergent orders with consciously designed and implemented schemes of social engineering.
