A Page-Turner from a Talented Writer
Viking • 1997 • 295 pages • $24.95
It is not uncommon for those who have been trained in economics or philosophy to arrive at the conclusion that big government is a dangerous menace, but it is an event worth noting when a scientist comes to that conclusion. The event becomes even more noteworthy if the scientist has done us the favor of putting his thoughts into a delightfully readable book. Matt Ridley has done just that.
Ridley is an Englishman, trained in zoology and equipped with an excellent grasp of many other disciplines—the book romps through anthropology, history, game theory, economics, genetics, and more. The Origins of Virtue is a search for answers to these questions: “If life is a competitive struggle, why is there so much cooperation about? And why, in particular, are people such eager cooperators? Is humankind instinctively an anti-social or a pro-social animal?” His answers echo the teachings of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, F. A. Hayek, and other defenders of freedom.
Cooperation rather than aggression, Ridley argues, is in the long-run interest of those individuals and groups that practice it. Cooperators fare much better in the struggle for survival than do aggressors or those that attempt self-sufficiency. Among the evidence Ridley marshals for this conclusion are the many “prisoner’s dilemma” computer tournaments that have been run, wherein the winning strategy turns out to be one of reciprocity: “Cooperate with me and I’ll cooperate with you; cheat and I’ll retaliate.” He maintains that this predisposition has become deeply ingrained in the human brain (most of them, anyway). “[T]his instinctive cooperativeness is the very hallmark of humanity and what sets us apart from other animals.”
Other animal species can cooperate to some extent within small groups, but we humans have figured out how to cooperate on a vast scale. One of our most important kinds of cooperation is, of course, trade. Ridley’s Chapter 10, “The Gains from Trade,” is an excellent discussion (if you teach principles of economics, you’ll find some good material for lectures or exams there), but it leads to an even more important point. Trading requires trust. Maintaining a reputation for honesty therefore is extremely important and that is why, the author concludes, people generally forbear from dishonesty and aggression. Even if, on a cold utilitarian calculus, such behavior would appear to pay off, most people resist. Ridley attributes this to millennia of human social development that has made us very reputation-conscious.
Alas, we also have our bad instincts, especially a tribalistic “us versus them” proclivity that demagogues have been exploiting since time out of mind. So, what can we do to maximize the good that comes out of our cooperative side and minimize the damage that can be done by our aggressive side? Answer: minimize the power of the state. Contemplating the behemoth states of the current time and of the past, Ridley writes, “I do believe that there have been glimpses of a better way, of a society built upon voluntary exchange of goods, information, fortune and power between free individuals in small enough communities for trust to be built. I believe such a society could be more equitable, as well as more prosperous, than one built upon bureaucratic statism.” Give Mr. Ridley an A.
Big government opens up a new means for people to get what they want, namely politics. Politics ultimately reduces to the use of force, however. The more we politicize society, the more we lure people away from voluntary, cooperative action. Ridley’s discussion of the effects of the British welfare state is illuminating: “Because of its mandatory nature the welfare state encouraged in its donors a reluctance and resentment, and in its clients not gratitude but apathy, anger or an entrepreneurial drive to exploit the system. Heavy government makes people more selfish, not less.”
And there is much to praise in this book besides the author’s sensible conclusion about the proper role of government. Plenty of fashionable notions about man and nature receive smashing blows, for example the endlessly repeated idea that simple, native peoples have a built-in environmental ethic. There is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Or, on the subject of wildlife conservation, the “green” penchant for demanding government control takes a knockout punch. Clear, defendable property rights, Ridley shows, are far more effective. (If you want to try a sample of this book, start reading Chapter 11, “Ecology as Religion,” and I’m confident that you’ll want to read it all.)
Ridley is a talented writer and The Origins of Virtue has a “page-turner” quality to it. I hope that we will be hearing more from him in the future.
