The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity

Stanford University student and Cuban American tennis prodigy Ramon Fernandez is outraged when a nearby mega-store hikes its prices the night of an earthquake. He crosses paths with provost and economics professor Ruth Lieber when he plans a campus protest against the price-gouging retailer--which is also a major donor to the university. Ruth begins a dialogue with Ramon about prices, prosperity, and innovation and their role in our daily lives. Is Ruth trying to limit the damage from Ramon's protest? Or does she have something altogether different in mind?

As Ramon is thrust into the national spotlight by events beyond the Stanford campus, he learns there's more to price hikes than meets the eye, and he is forced to reconsider everything he thought he knew. What is the source of America's high standard of living? What drives entrepreneurs and innovation? What upholds the hidden order that allows us to choose our careers and pursue our passions with so little conflict? How does economic order emerge without anyone being in charge? Ruth gives Ramon and the reader a new appreciation for how our economy works and the wondrous role that the price of everything plays in everyday life.

The Price of Everything is a captivating story about economic growth and the unseen forces that create and sustain economic harmony all around us.

"A remarkable use of parables and dialogues to convey economic intuitions. This should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to understand this branch of applied philosophy we call economics."--Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

"This is a great story about human, social, and economic betterment brought about by the forces of spontaneous coordination. It's also about justice and there's a warm ending. Read and enjoy."--Vernon Smith, Nobel Prize-winning economist

"The Price of Everything illuminates the astonishing economic world we live in. This book could change your life--reading it will give you a sense of wonder about the everyday marvels that are all around us."--Paul Romer, Stanford University

"The Price of Everything is sensationally good fiction and sensationally good economics."--Deirdre N. McCloskey, author of The Bourgeois Virtues

Russell Roberts is professor of economics at George Mason University, the J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Distinguished Scholar at George Mason's Mercatus Center, and a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is the author of "The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism" and "The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance".

Author's Note xi

Chapter 1: Thinking Outside the Box 1

Chapter 2: Out of Control 7

Chapter 3: Birds of a Feather 17

Chapter 4: Inconceivable 29

Chapter 5: Leaning on the Gardener 52

Chapter 6: Mea Culpa 64

Chapter 7: The Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs 77

Chapter 8: A Night in the Cemetery 104

Chapter 9: The Price of Everything 115

Chapter 10: No Host No Problem 129

Chapter 11: The Weaver of Dreams 150

Chapter 12: A Wild and Precious Life 166

Chapter 13: How's It Going to End? 174

Sources and Further Reading 191

Acknowledgments 201