SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS #51 | | |
The unifying theme of Knowledge and Decisions is that the specific mechanics of decision-making processes and institutions determine what kinds of knowledge can be brought to bear and with what effectiveness. In a world where people are preoccupied with arguing about what decision should be made on a sweeping range of issues, this book argues that the most fundamental question is not what decision to make but who is to make it-through what processes and under what incentives and constraints, and with what feedback mechanisms to correct the decision if it proves to be wrong. #52 | | |
Those convinced that they have "the answer" on whatever economic, legal, social, or other issues are the preoccupation of the moment are of course impatient with questions about institutional processes and their respective advantages and disadvantages for making different kinds of decisions. That is all the more reason for others to look beyond the goals, ideals, and "crises" that are incessantly being proclaimed, in order to scrutinize the mechanisms being proposed in terms of the incentives they generate, the constraints they impose, and the likely outcomes of such incentives and constraints. Where these mechanisms insulate the decision makers from the forces of feedback, the dangers are especially great, not only in terms of counterproductive consequences but also in terms of a steady erosion of freedom. #53 | | |
The intellectual debt I acknowledged to Professor Friedrich Hayek in the first edition of Knowledge and Decisions must be repeated here. He was one of those people who fit justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' definition of a great thinker with great impact on the world. The hallmark of such a thinker is not personal notoriety but the fact that "a hundred years after he is dead and forgotten, men who never heard of him will be moving to the measure of his thought. 1115 Hayek's thought, though little known to the general public even within his own lifetime (the Nobel Prize committee being an exception, however), has inspired numerous other scholars, writers, activists, and organizations around the world. I am proud to say that he inspired Knowledge and Decisions and especially proud that his book review gave it high praise.' #54 | | |
Others whose help was acknowledged with the original publication of this book include my editor and friend, Midge Decter, whose advice also caused me to reshape my later book, The Vision of the Anointed, even though she was no longer an editor by then. Finally, a special acknowledgment must be made to a lady whose critiques of the manuscript and whose "friendship and encouragement" were mentioned in the original acknowledgment and who is now my wife. For me, that is the most dramatic and most positive change since this book first appeared. #55 | | |
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