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�