Bread eaters will rejoice when they see that every bakery is filled with so much choice. The forgotten pizza lover cries, all the flour's gone to baking bread. There's none left for the pies of pepperoni deep dish, thin crust and Sicilian. We'll just grow lots more wheat, but that means less is something else that people like to eat. This order, this piece has to astound us. So many things we count on, yet no one's behind the curtain, no wizard, no controls, yet the supply of stuff near certain. Every morning the baker's rise early,. They're not under anyone's command. Where in the anatomy textbooks can I view an
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."