Dear HES discussion list members,
I am an economics Ph.D. student at George Mason University, working with Professor Daniel
Klein. We are pursuing a research project and are trying to compile HET instances of "the
incredible bread machine". We take that term "the incredible bread machine" from the title
of R.W. Grant's little book about the vast spontaneous order of millions of activities
that make your bread.
Adam Smith used the example of a woolen coat. Leonard Read used the example of a pencil. A
description beginning with a concrete article such as bread has been used to awaken
awareness of our immersion in and dependence on spontaneous order and the local knowledge
of the individual. These passages work as a heuristic to edify readers in the workings
and miraculous element of spontaneous order.
We are looking to compile any and all HET instances of explicating spontaneous order by
reference to a concrete everyday good and the vast concatenation of local knowledge
flowing into its creation.
We are also interested in your opinion on why this heuristic device has been so recurrent
and effective in explanations of spontaneous order.
To be honest, we are not quite sure what we aim to say about the recurrence of this
heuristic. We are not sure why it is significant. But we sense that it is. If you have
any suggestions about what we might say about the compilation of incredible bread machine
teachings, we will be very grateful.
In addition to "I, Pencil" examples, we are interested in notable pre-Hayek presentations
or invocations of local-knowledge/disjoint-knowledge arguments for economic freedom. (For
example, as found in Samuel Bailey and Jeremy Bentham, listed below.)
Below I am listing the instances we have compiled so far. Please reply on this list or to
[log in to unmask] if you are aware of any other examples of the usage of such heuristic
devices, if possible with a reference.
Thank you very much!
Sincerely yours,
Diana Weinert
[log in to unmask]
Instances of spontaneous order and local knowledge heuristics:
Bailey, Samuel � �A defence of joint-stock banks and country issues�
Barry, Norman � �The tradition of spontaneous order�
Bastiat, Fr�d�ric � �Selected Essays on Political Economy�
Bastiat, Frederic - Economic Sophisms from"There Are No Absolute Principles
Bentham, Jeremy � �The correspondence of Adam Smith�, �Defence of Usury�
Cobbden, Richared � on mutual co-operation
Cronon, William � book on Chicago
Desrochers, Pierre - on the geography of recycling and industrial plant location.
GE TV ads from the 1980s
George, Henry � �Protection or free trade�
Grant, R.W. ��The incredible bread machine�
Hayek, Friedrich A. von � �The use of knowledge in society�
Hayek, Friedrich von � Fatal Conceit, Law Legislation and Liberty
Hazlitt, Henry - Economics in One Lesson
Jacobs, Jane � multiple
Lachmann - heterogeneity of capital, Capital and its Structure
Landsburg, Steven - "The Iowa Car Crop" in the Armchair Economist.
Leijionhufvud - essay on why Bodo is poor
Leslie, Cliffe - on complexity
Locke, John - Second Treatise
Mandeville - The Fable of the Bees
Marx, Karl - Critique of Political Economy
Marx, Karl � on the division of labor
McCloskey, Deirdre - pitch for the transcendent
Mill, John Stuart � �Principles of Political Economy� (the woolen coat)
Mill, John Stuart � tells of Wakefiel
Pope, Alexander � poetry
Rand, Ayn � Atlas Shrugged
Read, Leonard � �I pencil�
Friedman, Milton � I pencil in �Free to choose�
Rivoli, Pietra. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
Seabright, Paul� The company of strangers
Shenoy, Sudha � on the production of a tee-shirt
Smith, Adam � �The wealth of nations� (the woolen coat)
Socrates � Apology
Spencer, Herbert - essays, The Man Versus the State
St. Bernardine of Sienna
Stossel, John � on �Greed�
Stossel, John (ABC News) � on the production of milk
Whatley, Richard � feeding London
Williams, Walter - how New Yorkers get food.
Yeager, Leland � �Henry George and Austrian Economics�
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