Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from page 277 of Israel Kirzner’s insightful November 1980 lecture titled “The Morality of Capitalist Success,” as this lecture is reprinted in the 2019 collection of some of Kirzner’s papers (edited by Peter J. Boettke and Frédéric Sautet), Reflections on Ethics, Freedom, Welfare Economics, Policy, and the Legacy of Austrian Economics:

Defenders of capitalism are justifiably quick to reject criticisms of it which denounce the many kinds of consumption goods produced by capitalism that fall short of the ideals of high quality and noble purpose. The market system is not to be blamed, it is properly pointed out, for the crassness of tastes demonstrated by consumers. To blame the market for faithfully catering to these preferences, would be equivalent, to use George Stigler’s delightful metaphor, to blaming the waiter for obesity.