The costs of centralizing information are higher than people understand. Until they have worked in actual organizations that have missions like fighting a war or making a profit, people tend to underestimate just how expensive it can be to centralize information.

If our mental picture of the world is like the pointy-haired manager in the Dilbert cartoons, we’ll tend to favor institutions where knowledge comes from the knowledge frontier, and is then moved to the central office where the managers sit and cogitate. The managers then push stupid orders back to the frontier.

Being a government means never having to say you’re sorry. And it also means you get to blame everyone else for all the problems you’ve caused.

Earlier today, I reported on the latest job numbers which are disappointing and worrisome. If you read that and thought “there they go again, those perma-bear Austrians,” I’ll point you to this weeks housing data. After all, just because the job market points toward stagnation doesn’t mean that news is bad everywhere. If you’re well-positioned to benefit from asset-price inflation, things are looking good.