Through the Parable of the Broken Window, Bastiat introduces the economic concept of Opportunity Cost.
The parable describes a shopkeeper's son accidentally breaking his father's window. The spectators at the scene thought this was a good thing, as the glazier now had work. However, Bastiat says that "this theory is confined to what is seen; it does not take into account what is unseen".
What is not seen is that the money, now spent on repairing the destruction, could otherwise have been used productively by the shopkeeper, say, to replace his shoes or to buy a book.
This talk by John Stossel was one of the first given by Students For Liberty. And what remains is the question: are you actually seeing reality and what needs to be done? Or are you being influenced?
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