>That shows I have not expalined Hayek clwarly enough.
Yes you have. I've heard all this a million times, though mostly from unreflective cheerleaders for capitalism. Repetition doesn't equal accuracy or finality, though. The price system tells lots of stories. Let's look at the oil market over the last 30 years. Prices zoomed after 1973 - fed ideas of scarcity. Another spike after 1979 - a panic over scarcity. Collapse after 1986 - complacency sets in. Drilling explodes, then collapses. Should we believe these signals? The long-term reality of the oil supply barely changed despite the gyrations. Couldn't thoughtful planners, with long-term supply and demand information, do a better job?
Or how about deregulating airfares? That was supposed to liberate all those wondrous Hayekian forces. Hasn't quite worked out that way, has it?
Oh and the stock market. Prices move more freely there than just about anywhere else. March 2000: prosperity forever. July 2002: despair. What changed in the course of those two years that justified the price movements and the associated interpretations?
Doug