| Lesson 15: Adaptation |
- Economics is the study of human behavior in response to limited resources. Much of it is
determined by multiple, natural, instincts. We have already covered a few: Ambition and its ugly sister
Greed (Lessons 4 and 10), Slavery Evasion (Lesson 7), Cost/benefit Analysis (Lesson 11) and
Competitiveness (Lesson 14). These instincts cannot be extinguished and must be dealt with. However,
there is a master instinct which overrides the others: Adaptation.
Learning occurs in response to positive and negative stimuli (reward and punishment). Adaptation is
a change in behavior that results from learning. All creatures adapt, either consciously or unconsciously,
individually or collectively. All societies have challenges, and free, capitalist societies get big ones:
- Our rapid economic growth comes with big recessions.
- Our harnessing of ambition can lead to big greed and corruption.
- Our creative ingenuity can lead to creative, ingenious crime.
- But free societies are also free to adapt and, as a result, our problems are short-lived. Because we
are constantly exposing ourselves to new challenges, we evolve rapidly, becoming strong and resilient.
Adaptation is stunted, and problems are prolonged by government and through government:
- by bailing out failed auto worker unions.
- by subsidizing inefficient farms, bloated universities and dumb energy ideas.
- by enacting tariffs and other trade barriers.
- by reelecting bad politicians for decades.
- by failing to enforce laws, such as immigration laws, naked short-selling laws for
investors, and tax laws for Democrats.
Our longest recessions have been the ones that the government tried to fix. Our shortest ones were
the ones that were left to the people to fix.