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Adam Smith's uncritically enthusiastic modern disciples portray his invisible hand theory as saying that market forces reliably harness selfish individuals to serve the common good. That's often true, but as Darwin recognized clearly, many traits that serve the interests of individual animals make life more difficult for larger groups.

Robert H. Frank

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Robert H. Frank
Age: 79
Born: 1945
Born: January 2
Economist
Mathematician
Professor
Statistician
University Teacher
Robert Frank
Robert Harris Frank
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Common
Animals
Selfish
Harness
Good
Force
Groups
Individuals
Smith
Life
Individual
Theory
Clearly
Enthusiastic
Difficult
Saying
Invisible
Disciple
Uncritically
Often
Modern
Forces
Traits
Reliably
True
Animal
Interests
Recognized
Darwin
Hands
Hand
Serve
Adam
Portray
Many
Interest
Market
Larger
Disciples

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If the search is for examples that contradict the predictions of standard economic models, a good rule of thumb is to start in France.
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When the economic pie grows larger, it's always possible for everyone to have a larger slice than before. So it's really in all of our interest to make the economic pie larger by eliminating waste whenever and wherever possible.
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When people bump up against one another in the course of pursuing their goals, it is in everyone's interest to resolve any resulting problems in the least costly ways possible.
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The link between rational individual behavior and collectively desirable outcomes is extremely tenuous.
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Unless we can act collectively, there would be no way to defend ourselves, no way to define or enforce property rights. We couldn't curb congestion or pollution or build and maintain public infrastructure.
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Trusting others puts us at risk. Yet failure to trust entails risk as well. The ability to navigate through this minefield successfully is one of life’s most valuable assets. DeSteno provides by far the best account of what science has learned about how we do this. The Truth About Trust is also a terrific read.
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The most glaring deficiency in traditional economic models is that they completely ignore the role of context in evaluation.
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Pass down values every day through your actions, your words and your time with your kids.
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