The Mises Institute is now putting out free market and libertarian literature in an audio format at a breakneck pace. Much more that what is usually expected from a non profit organization. It was through one of these works Human Action, that I began to think about how production is directed by the consumer. That that process where the consumers have the ultimate and last word in regard to what is produced, in what quality and quantity, and how, is the most efficient.
Of course being a non profit organization, this institution as well as all other non profit institutions are bound to lag behind to some degree, and of course this is okay because the consumer pays nothing.
But I speculate that it might yet do better. Surely those who consume the audio books, are the same who make monetary donations, is there no way that we could tie the donations to the recording of audio books? How is it to be determined what books will be read next, and in what order?
Would it be possible to somehow allow friends of the institute to make pledges of an amount of money to be donated to the institute when a work has been recorded? This wouldn’t exactly be a price, but I think it would give the producers some information as to what the “consumers” want.