Markets Are Our Best Hope for Peaceful Cooperation

by Andrew Syrios
Mises.org

In my previous column, I noted both the fallacy that libertarianism is inherently “atomistic” as well as the scientific fact that while morality — such as the Golden Rule, may be applied universally — human cooperation and empathy are not. We are hemmed in by “Dunbar’s number” which limits the number of social relationships any one person can have at any given time to approximately 150.

The question left before us is what societal arrangement does such a nature best lend itself to. Karl Marx envisioned a future that would be “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” But as the biologist E.O. Wilson cleverly noted of communism, “Wonderful theory, wrong species.” Yes, what works well for ants doesn’t so much for human beings.

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