April meeting: April 11th sorry 12th (Wednesday) at 15:15 as usual. We will read the beginning of “The Road to Surfdom” and chapter 4 of “How an Economy Grows and how it Crashes”.

(The Road to Surfdom is a simplification of the ideas in Friedrich Hayek’s classic, “The Road to Serfdom.”  Here’s a short video that introduces the book’s key ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONATaFzi82I   )

We read “The Tuttle Twins and the Miraculous Pencil” and discussed some  key economic terms. Have you already read the book? Be sure to read the original essay or watch the video! http://tuttletwins.com/pencilvideo/

Rapeseed oil (also called Canola) was mentioned. Where does the name come  from? Wikipedia tells us: “The name derives from the Latin for turnip, rāpa or rāpum, and is first recorded in English at the end of the 14th century”.

Here are the key concepts from the book:

central planning: control and regulation of the masses by a limited number of people using government to enforce their decisions and alter the behavior of other individuals.

Competition: multiple producers or service providers trying to attract more customers by lowering their price, improving their product or service, or otherwise setting themselves apart.

Economy: a network of individuals who produce, distribute, and use goods and services.

Division of labour: a production process involving many different people, each of whom specializes in and works on a different task, thereby collaborating to do something greater than any one of them could do alone.

Spontaneous order: when social harmony and market efficiency  are achieved through the independent decisions of countless individuals, each guided by their own desires and self-interest.