Even economists who regard themselves as definitely immune to the crude materialist fallacies [i.e., thinking in terms of material wealth] constantly commit the same mistake where activities directed toward the acquisition of such practical knowledge are concerned—apparently because in their scheme of things all such knowledge is supposed to be “given.”
This is from Friedrich Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” American Economic Review, September 1945.
I thought of this passage today when I took my iPhone to an independent repair shop. I pointed out to the guy, Steve, that the usual plug into my iPhone didn’t fit. I speculated that it was because the one in my car had left a little piece in there and showed him the cord from my car, which looked as if it had lost a piece.
Steve told me it’s because I bought a low-quality cord. He got a little tool and took all of 10 seconds to pull a little piece out of the phone and Voila, the normal cord fit. So I bought a new 6-foot cord from him for $15. He said it was higher quality and it looked it.
“How much do I owe you for fixing the phone?” I asked.
“Twenty dollars,” he replied, and then quickly, “That’s the charge for my experience and wisdom.”
“Sounds right to me,” I answered and handed him my MasterCard.
READER COMMENTS
john hare
Apr 9 2021 at 3:05am
A few decades back I was getting skin rashes and the local walk in clinics were prescribing ointments that weren’t working. A friend recommended a dermatologist that told me after a 30 second observation from 6-8 feet away that I was allergic to something I worked with. Cure was wash the cement off as soon as possible instead of waiting, no prescription needed. $106.00 for 30 seconds and money well spent.
Stéphane Couvreur
Apr 9 2021 at 3:52am
Good point and funny coincidence!
Julia Cagé-a French economist who has been working for years on the media and most of all the press-has recently published a book entitled “Information is a public good”.
I had been mulling over how this title is wrong in so many ways from an economic point of view (I have not yet read the contents of the book).
Your anecdote just put another nail in!
Mark Brady
Apr 14 2021 at 4:23pm
“I had been mulling over how this title is wrong in so many ways from an economic point of view (I have not yet read the contents of the book).”
Why do you think this title is wrong is so many ways?
MarkW
Apr 9 2021 at 9:00am
There’s an old doctor joke about a patient questioning the bill and the punchline is something like “$1 for cutting, $999 for knowing where to cut”.
robc
Apr 9 2021 at 9:09am
Its the punchline to an old engineering joke too:
$1 for the chalk
$999 for knowing where to put the x.
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