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Pastimes : Austrian Economics, a lens on everyday reality -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Lloyd who wrote (187)	4/3/2003 7:47:08 PM
From: Wildstar	Respond to of 445

Don, You did not make the argument for "efficiency." I simply see it in the market, but want to make a precise Austrian argument for it. Perhaps I am wrong, and it does not exist. Price caps prevent higher prices from attracting additional supply to meet demand and result in shortages. Right, and also they fail to diminish demand. But in addition to both of these effects (failure to increase supply and decrease demand), I believe that there is an "everyday reality" effect of a qualitative nature - price caps fail to increase "vital" supply (plywood is distributed as it always is, rather than being shifted to the hurricane region) and decrease "frivolous" demand (plywood is used for purposes such as building sheds instead of to board up property). I guess I am puzzled why this "targeted" allocation I see in the market cannot be derived from Austrian first principles. It seems we're going in circles, and this conversation has probably gone as far as it can. Thanks. Wildstar