Great video on the division of labour.
Good video. I sometimes get the impression that people seem more receptive to discussions about the division of labor when its a sociologist or anthropologist talking about then when economists do. Unfortunate, really.
Awesome vid! Thank you for sharing.
very enjoyed.
Wonderful. The talk completely flattened the fallacies of Mercantilism and centrally-planning an economy.
Yes, great video
Great to see the free market being defended on a TED conference. The talks at ted.com can be inspiring but a bit too often you get the “compassionate” statist culture full force.
I think it’s partly because very few economists discuss economics from first principles. Hoppe’s speaking style is probably not “inspirational” enough to make it into TED but he explains the division of labor in almost exactly the same terms as Mr. Ridley did in his excellent presentation.
As an aside, it is slightly humorous to see 250-year old ideas from economics presented as new revelations from other disciplines. It’s okay, though, it might take another century or so but the liberal-arts types will eventually get it. Private property and exchange are about human dignity, choice and freedom. It’s what the bleeding-hearts really mean when they use the word “democracy” (individual choice). Naive as they are, they have been duped by the puppet-masters into believing that, despite six millenia of recorded history to the contrary, a system of government can have something to do with these noble ideals.
When this superstition has one day been shed by the academic community, I think there will be some fundamental shifts in moral thinking about economics. It was once considered immoral (and illegal in most places in Europe) to lend at interest. This superstition took the better part of a millenium to die out. Our academic leaders today believe all sorts of similar superstitions that are starting to be crushed by a tidal wave of undeniable historical experience. Reasons and arguments were not sufficient to persuade people but who can argue with the blight caused by rent control?
We live in uncertain and momentous times.
Clayton -