10 hours ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Dust Off Your Econ 101 Notes
Regarding 'Javier Milei's Gift for Pope Leo' (Inside View, June 16): Andy Kessler's brilliant explication of the value of free markets neglects to explore the most important outcome of them, individual freedom. Unrestrained by central planning, citizens can exercise their choice as to what they like and what they are willing to pay for it. The essence of price discovery is when the aggregation of these decisions is reflected in the marketplace.
The first lesson in almost every introductory microeconomics course is 'Consumer Choice,' how an individual will decide how much of his resources he'll devote to what good based on his preferences. Central planning corrupts that, restricting individual freedom and creating scarcity of goods and distortion of prices. It likewise breeds a climate for corruption, favoritism, fraud and waste. Perhaps the meddling grandees with Ph.D.s should review their Econ 101 notes.
