"Absent negative externalities or monopoly effects, a man receives from the free market what he gives to it, his material worth is a running tally of the net benefit that he has provided to his fellow man"
I'm not surprised that someone whose ideology makes him believe that Einstein's contribution to society was smaller than that of the bosses of Lehman or AIG would be disappointed by reality. Or is it that reality itself is a "negative externality"?
No, I think the issue is one of faulty interpretation of that ideology. It's a serious mistake that people make all the time. They mix up statistical probabilities and individual causality. The average efficiency of markets includes scams as well as geniuses. It includes people who contribute a lot but market themselves badly and it includes the exact opposite.
I'm not surprised that someone whose ideology makes him believe that Einstein's contribution to society was smaller than that of the bosses of Lehman or AIG would be disappointed by reality.
Would you care to clarify? I genuinely don't see where you are getting this from.
Einstein did not contribute to the market, and thus shouldn't be judged by that. You could say he gave his insights away as gifts (or in exchange for reputation?).
The author of the article says "wages represent the value that a worker provides to others". Do you really think Einstein's wage represented the value he provided to others?
People work for all kinds of reasons. Money is just one of them as you yourself allude to when you mention reputation. So wages representing the value a worker provides is clearly nonsense.
They just represent _expected_ value for those able to pay, and it includes all kinds of distortions like immigration controls.
I'm not surprised that someone whose ideology makes him believe that Einstein's contribution to society was smaller than that of the bosses of Lehman or AIG would be disappointed by reality. Or is it that reality itself is a "negative externality"?
No, I think the issue is one of faulty interpretation of that ideology. It's a serious mistake that people make all the time. They mix up statistical probabilities and individual causality. The average efficiency of markets includes scams as well as geniuses. It includes people who contribute a lot but market themselves badly and it includes the exact opposite.