More than 70 years ago F. A. Hayek first put forward his thesis that markets work better than central planning because they make better use of knowledge. Now, a new research program has appeared and come to a “Hayekian” conclusion of its own: in situations where information is decentralized, the collective wisdom, the vox populi, is demonstrably superior to the judgment of experts alone.

Will C. Heath is a professor of economics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
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