In an excerpt from the splendidPovertyCure series, Michael Fairbanks offers a helpful bit on why our attitudes petition matter for economic development:

I can predict the future of a developing nation better than any IMF team of economists by asking one question: “Do you believe petition?” When I go to Venezuela and I say, “do you believe petition?,” they say petition means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” They say petition is the unnecessary duplication of effort because you have two firms doing the same thing.” They say petition is a quaint North American concept that doesn’t apply here.”

But when I go to Silicon Valley and I say,“What do you think about the petition?,” they say, “Well, I petition, because even when I lose, I learn something. And my success is due to the fact that I speeded up my failures, and the only way to fail was pete, and figure out where I wasn’t good enough.”

As Hayek put petition is a discovery procedure. If we neglect, distort, or downplay that process, we can expect the es of discovery — the fruits of our sacrifice and service — to digress accordingly.

[product sku=”1297″]