Sublime

people are conditional cooperators. They are willing to contribute to the public good as long as others are doing so as well, but if others are free riding, contributions gradually dry up.

“self-interested behavior is learned behavior, and people learn it by studying economics and business.”

Specialization and trade let workers make the most of what they have—it raises wages as high as possible given productivity—but trade does not directly increase productivity.iii Trade makes both Einstein and his less clever accountant better off, but it doesn’t make the accountant a skilled scientist like Einstein.

A recent study even found that liberal professors give out a narrower range of grades than do conservative professors. Conservative professors are more willing to reward the best students and punish the worst.

décisif. Dans la vraie vie, travailler en groupe, ça s’appelle coopérer ; à l’école, ça s’appelle tricher. Dans la vraie vie, le travail collectif, c’est sérieux ; à l’école, le travail collectif, ce n’est pas sérieux. Comment s’étonner qu’une humanité nourrie à ces principes soit incapable de coopérer mondialement, aussi bien pour préserver la Ter

Any individual in the General Market can give to the poor, pay for someone else’s schooling, donate money to foreign governments, or hire protection. It isn’t his choice he’s concerned about when he wants the government to do those things. It’s someone else’s choice that he’s trying to overrule.