The Strangeness of Emergent Order

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F.A. Hayek spent a lot of time thinking about emergent order and that goes under the name of emergent order. These are things that are caused by humans and that appear to have an intention, but actually don't. They just sort of happen through the concerted actions of all of us acting together. So I'll take a couple examples of those and then we'll take a look at how this works and what drives it and when it doesn't work. And in particular, Google doesn't like that people use Google as a verb.

Why is it that people in large cities like Paris or New York City people sleep peacefully, unworried about whether there will be enough bread or other necessities available for purchase the next morning? No one is in charge--no bread czar. No flour czar. And yet it seems to work remarkably well. Don Boudreaux of George Mason University and Michael Munger of Duke University join EconTalk host Russ Roberts to discuss emergent order and markets. The conversation includes a reading of Roberts's poem, "It's a Wonderful Loaf."