How to Move Bees at Night

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You drive at night because bees only fly during the day and they come back to their hive in the evening. So when you, when they wake up and they're in a new field, they know that home is their hive and they'll return to that hive. They don't get lost. Why exactly they've evolved in this way? I mean, darkness sounds like a, I don't know.

Wally Thurman of North Carolina State University and PERC talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the world of bees, beekeepers, and the market for pollination. Thurman describes how farmers hire beekeepers to pollinate their crops and how that market keeps improving crop yields and producing honey. Thurman then discusses how beekeepers have responded to Colony Collapse Disorder--a not fully understood phenomenon where colonies disband, dramatically reducing the number of bees. The discussion closes with the history of bee pollination as an example of a reciprocal externality and how Coase's insight helps understand how the pollination market works.