re: Vernon L. Smith, awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, writes: "Growing up on a farm in Kansas provided an invigorating child-hood—learning about crops and animals, befriending pet chickens, and shooting rabbits for dinner with an 1890 vintage lever action 12-gauge Winchester. My early interaction with the “environment,” coupled with the ideas associated with free market environmentalism (FME), which were so eloquently put forth in Terry Anderson and Don Leal’s book, helped shape my thinking about natural resource policy. / Life on the farm provided ample opportunity for lessons in “how things work”—an interest I have carried throughout my life. My family had a direct incentive to tend to our gardens, grain crops, and well pumps if we wanted to eat and drink. I quickly learned that one cannot ignore the important role of incentives in guiding human behavior. Similarly, Anderson and Leal pointed out that the famed conservationist Aldo Leopold learned through first-hand knowledge from working his Sand County farm in Wisconsin that incentives or rewards for private landowners lead to the best environmental outcomes..."...
hat tip: Don Boudreaux
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