The Purpose of the Economy

If you don’t listen to the Tom Woods Show, you’re really missing out. He always has fantastic guests, like Bob Murphy, Scott Horton, and Will Grigg. In a recent Q&A episode, he had this to say about the purpose of the economy, contra government propaganda:

“The purpose of the economy is not just to shuffle money around from one person to another. Government can shuffle money around, as indeed they’re doing… …The point of the economy is to take the array of consumer preferences, figure out the relative intensity of those preferences, and then arrange the productive resources of society (including labor services) in such a way as to conform, as best as humanly possible, to those preferences.

That’s what the economy is all about. It’s not just about spending.”

Brilliant.

Skyler.

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Founder and editor of Everything-Voluntary.com and UnschoolingDads.com, Skyler is a husband and unschooling father of three beautiful children. His writings include the column series “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” and “One Improved Unit,” and blog series “Two Cents“. Skyler also wrote the books No Hitting! and Toward a Free Society, and edited the books Everything Voluntary and Unschooling Dads. You can hear Skyler chatting away on his podcasts, Everything Voluntary and Thinking & Doing.