emergence

'It was man's submission to the impersonal forces of the market that in the past has made possible the growth of civilisation which without this could not have developed; it is by thus submitting that we are every day helping to build something that is greater than anyone of us can ever comprehend.'
hayek | road to serfdom | cities | society | the market | theory | volition |

‘The marvel is that in a case like that of a scarcity of one raw material, without an order being issued, without more than perhaps a handful of people knowing the cause, tens of thousands of people whose identity could not be ascertained by months of investigation, are made to use the material or its products more sparingly; i.e., they move in the right direction. This is enough of a marvel even if, in a constantly changing world, not all will hit if off so perfectly that their profit rates will always be maintained at the same constant or “normal” level.'
hayek | use of knowledge in society | economics | knowledge | prices

‘The problem is precisely how to extend the span of our utilisation of resources beyond the span of control of any one mind; and, therefore, how to dispense with the need of conscious control and how to provide inducements which will make individuals do desirable things without anyone having to tell them what to do.'
hayek | use of knowledge in society | economics |

‘instead we must show how a solution is produced by the interactions of people each of whom possesses only partial knowledge'
hayek | use of knowledge in society | economics | knowledge