Exchange...............................

Faithful readers will know that I am a fan of the Kids Prefer Cheese blog.  Mike Munger, one of those responsible for said blog, is a professor at Duke - not that we should hold that against him.  He was recently asked some questions by AIER (American Institute for Economic Research).   My only complaint is that they should have asked more questions.  A sample:

What’s the most important economic concept for the average person to understand?

Voluntary exchanges make both parties better off.  So the more exchange, the better.  Rules or laws that prevent exchange, or make it more expensive, harm people in ways that are hard to see.  Much of the harm that markets appear to cause are actually caused by misguided attempts to direct and regulate exchange.