The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible - Bastiat Institute

When you make
a choice, your
opportunity cost is
the next best thing
you give up. In this
case, the destruction
forces people to
sacrifi ce their fi rst
choice for other
alternatives.
Ken Schoolland’s
explanation of the
economic term:
“Opportunity Costs”.
Chapter 12 • Opportunity Lost
Brainstorming
• Who really benefi ted by Ricco’s action?
• Will the community as a whole benefi t from
Ricco’s action?
• Do people do things in crowds that they
would not normally do?
• Would a person in authority be able to
authorise atrocities he or she would not be
willing to commit?
• If a crowd initiates forceful aggression, is
each member of that crowd guilty?
• Are wars benefi cial to an economy?
Commentary
In his St. Crispian day speech, Shakespeare’s
Henry V incited his men to commit murder
with promises of impending heroism. The
same technique is still used today to provoke an
otherwise orderly crowd into destructive action
for “heroism.”
But the initiation of destruction and murder
do not give us freedom. Freedom is gained by
personal responsibility, respect for others, and
the courage to speak out for these.
This is true on both a large and small scale.
To break a window intentionally is a form of
theft, whether it is done by one person or by
many. The broken window could well create
more business for the glassmaker and there
could be a knock-on effect from the profi t he
makes.
Those who see this are correct. But there
are the more observant people who can see
the opportunity lost – the more positive result
of not breaking the window. They can see
that the owner of the broken window is out of
pocket. What he has to spend on paying for a
new window, he could have spent on a different
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