I recently went to New York City, and one of the first things I checked off the bucket list was to eat a famous NYC Bagel. While the bagel itself lived up to expectations, I was more focused on an anecdote I had heard before. Every morning, millions of people wake up and go to get bagels in NewYork. There are thousands of different preferences, flavors, styles, prices, and locations that different people want. It seems like an impossible task to try to satisfy all of these diverse desires. However, every single morning, without anyone coordinating, each and every one of these preferences and variations is met. Day after day, millions are made and consumed without anyone orchestrating the whole thing. Its always impressive to stop and look at any industry or thing that we take for granted. Its amazing to think that we can have variety in almost every product for the most niche purposes. This is all a result of market incentives, and businesses and entrepreneurs following their own best interest, not by some centralized planner. To think that this task could be accomplished with the same efficiency day in, and day out by one person or origination is ludicrous. I enjoyed reflecting on Hayek’s thoughts in this abridged book, and had two main takeaways: central planning leads to coercion and inefficiency, and social justice is a myth.
The discussion of how central planning stuck a chord with me, because It resonated well with my personal values. I believe that if you want to have something in life it is up to you to get it. Your results and quality of life are based on the hard work you are willing to contribute, and the value you can create. So as he moved through the topic of the pitfalls of central planning I agreed with his point that if you count on one group to make all the decisions, you end up with many people unhappy. *I thought back to the first weeks discussion, where we examined Communism in Cuba and how they had no variety of their spices. When the government made choices about food imports, they just picked several and told everyone that they had to live with it.* There was no capacity for people to do anything else but go along with what the government had decreed. I really liked his point that when people say society is getting too complex, and that central planning is the only way to solve it, that they couldn’t be more wrong. Society is more complex than ever, and that is just a much better argument for why it shouldn’t be handled by one group or person. By allowing price data to inform business it is much more efficient in complex situations. Moreover, not only does he emphasize their inefficiency because of how knowledge is spread out in a society, but he also makes a point of how this much centralized power certainly leads to authoritarian tendencies. Basically, this kind of control extends from economic issues and bleeds into social and government policy.
I believe that fairness is a base human desire. There is just something innate about people wanting everything to be equal. It sounds so easy and perfect, but unfortunately never can be achieved. When reflecting on this essay, the second point that I I wanted to discuss is how social justice is a myth. Although this isn’t the main point of the entire text, most of his points contribute to the theme that social justice through wealth redistribution is not an effective or fair method of government. Although we all inherently want it to be fair, there just isn’t a good way to decide and sift through the complexities of life. There are too many situations and exceptions, and when you try to build social justice you always end up violating the rights of someone else. History seems to show that although it is a potent promise that many “planners” and dictators use, the complexity of life renders it elusive. So although we all might wish that life was fair, at the end of the day, the system of capitalism does the best job of at least giving you what you earn. It might not be perfect, but you get to keep your property, and can live how you want.
Overall this essay was a good reminder that even when we want to make everything a utopia, we dont have the capacity or cooperation to make it happen without violating the rule of law, and leading to authoritarian government. In the end, attempts to impose top-down control over society not only lead to inefficiency and economic stagnation but also pose a grave threat to the principles of democracy, the rule of law, and individual rights.