The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 FABLE OF THE BERRY PICKERS 713and conduct. They may challengethe assumption that the contributionsof Tom and Dick to the outputof the berry plant are fairlyand accurately determined; theymay urge that in practice - in reallife - the Toms are overpaid andthe Dicks underpaid. In the systemas it stands, they may contend,common labor is exploited andmanagers and owners are on thegravy train. There is certainlywidespread expression of opinionto this effect.(There should perhaps be mentionedhere, parenthetically, theview that the more efficient andproductive individuals should beforced to share the results of theirefforts with their less capablebrethren, and currently this extremeposition has a great deal ofsupport. The advocates of thisstance are of course refusing toacknowledge the validity of PropositionTwo, as well as ignoring orminimizing the probably adverseeffect on total output of largescaleand persistent seizure anddiversion of the contributionsmade by the more energetic andcompetent individuals.)Measuring Productivity and Awards­Major Alternative SystemsVia Propositions One and TwoI have now come to the crucialmeasurement problem and issue:How is the contribution of the individualparticipant to be determinedin a complex economy suchas that in which we find ourselveswhere a host of individuals joinhands, so to speak, in operating anelaborate, highly mechanized, productiveprocess or system? Andshould any limitation be placed onthe right of the individual to consumeor otherwise dispose of theamount of his contribution, validlymeasured?The study of economics consistsessentially in searching for an answerto these questions. It is preciselyat this point that the battlebetween competing isms and ideologiesis joined. In the existingsituation the determination is stilllargely made by. the forces of anintricate structure of markets, andhence systematic economic inquirymust include an intensive examinationof the price-making forcesof the market, and their results,at all levels. Such an examination,including a survey of historicalevidence, will undoubtedly providea substantial backing for the conclusionthat a broad and free marketstructure, registering automaticallyand impersonally the netimpact of the attitudes and reactionsof many buyers and sellersto changing conditions, has longsince proved itself as a truly amazinginstrument for directing productiveactivities and awardingshares of output to participants in