Bastiat's Broken Window | The Seen & The Unseen

#economics #statism #fallacy

An action produces a series of effects. These effects can be divided up between the seen effects and the unseen effects. The seen effects are immediate and visible. The unseen effects are not visible. The bad economist only views the seen effects. The good economist will concern himself with both. These unseen effects can be fatal, and will destroy society if they are ignored. Evil hides in the unseen.

A shopkeeper’s son breaks a window. Now, the shopkeeper must purchase a window. This now provides a job for the glazier. An outside observer might see this as beneficial, even the bad economist. After all, a job has been created by the child breaking the window. However, this is not the case. These are only the seen effects. What would the shopkeeper have spent the money on if he didn’t have to buy a new window?

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