The errors and misinterpretations are nicely summarised. In fact, laypeople are mistaken.
There is one important point that needs to be considered in all cases, but often. Successful trading requires trust that agreements will be honoured. We humans also have a (healthy) natural tendency not to become dependent, which could be very harmful. We do not want to put ourselves in potentially blackmailing situations. We can reduce these problems with multiple sources, storage and back-up solutions etc., but it remains a risk.
However, the basic statements on lay economic reasoning remain. We fail regularly and the risk arguments would also be shared by economists.
Excellent point! I agree. Much of the success of modern economies is a result of having social structures that make trust a reasonable risk to take. But that in itself is evolutionarily unprecedented, at least among strangers - which is probably another reason that our intuitions are out of step with the economists'.
The errors and misinterpretations are nicely summarised. In fact, laypeople are mistaken.
There is one important point that needs to be considered in all cases, but often. Successful trading requires trust that agreements will be honoured. We humans also have a (healthy) natural tendency not to become dependent, which could be very harmful. We do not want to put ourselves in potentially blackmailing situations. We can reduce these problems with multiple sources, storage and back-up solutions etc., but it remains a risk.
However, the basic statements on lay economic reasoning remain. We fail regularly and the risk arguments would also be shared by economists.
Excellent point! I agree. Much of the success of modern economies is a result of having social structures that make trust a reasonable risk to take. But that in itself is evolutionarily unprecedented, at least among strangers - which is probably another reason that our intuitions are out of step with the economists'.