A classic (but characteristically crude) episode of South Park teaches us an important lesson about policy-making. The lesson repeats itself throughout a recurring series of teachable moments. Steven Horwitz and I discussed this in a column for the Freeman Online last year. It’s a lesson that is worth repeating, and it’s a lesson that has a lot of applications.

It’s fair bet that a lot of the policy proposals that come into your field of vision are based on a view of the world more appropriate to the Underpants Gnomes from South Park than serious and reasoned discussion.