Common Error Number 61

Dr Madsen Pirie at adamsmith.org thinks it is thinking "It is important for us to understand the causes of poverty." Against which he offers this superb rejoinder:

There are no causes of poverty. It is the rest state, that which happens when you don't do anything. If you want to experience poverty, just do nothing and it will come. To ask what causes poverty is like asking what causes cold in the universe; it is the absence of energy. Similarly poverty is the absence of wealth. For most of humanity's existence on this planet, poverty has been the norm, the natural condition. People hunted to survive or lived by subsistence farming, and they were poor. In some parts of the world this is still the case.

The unusual condition is wealth. This is what changes things.

It's not much longer and is well worth a read in full. Hat-tip: Samizdata

Economics and Markets Posted by jk at March 19, 2008 5:24 PM