What is “the main problem” in economics, if it is not one of information? Hayek implies that it is the social process, or something related to it, and that seems to me to be right.
People will formulate this answer differently, depending on
the language they are used to using about human beings; a sociologist will put
it differently from an economist who will put it differently from a soi-Aristotelian
philosopher.
But here’s one soi-Aristotelian formulation of “the main
problem” in economics: because people in general (including the present writer)
possess key virtues like temperance and prudence only imperfectly, they are apt
to choose things which are attractive in the short term, but which are not ultimately
conducive to their long term happiness.
That’s why most forms of social and economic planning,
including the (I hasten to add) necessary welfare, oftentimes have bad
unintended consequences.
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