Why John Quiggin Is Wrong About *I, Pencil*

Great post by Lee Doren at Competitive Enterprise Institute Blog. Here is the intro to that post:

"In 1958, Leonard Read published I, Pencil, an essay written in the first person from the point of view of a pencil. In the essay, the pencil explains the unbelievable complexity of creating such a simple product. However, despite its simplicity, Read also argues, “Not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make one.” In fact, there are no central planners dictating its creation.

Read’s seemingly unbelievable claim is argued to perfection after he cites the numerous raw materials, capital and labor required to produce a pencil, and the millions of people unknowingly cooperating throughout its production. Although the story is educational, the final message that Read attempts to convey is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Society must have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand without government coercion.

However, a few weeks ago, John Quiggin, wrote a response to I, Pencil. In Quiggin’s rebuttal, he argues that a pencil is really a product of the mixed economy, not the product of the Invisible Hand. Moreover, Quiggin makes the astounding claim that markets aren’t the best way to organize production. Unfortunately for Quiggin, he fails miserably to argue his case, while ignoring numerous facts that refute his assertions."

Doren shows that Quiggin ignores that much of our wood comes from private forests, that private railways work very well, that much education takes place outside of schools (education that people learn on the job that makes them more productive), etc.