Saturday 25 January 2014

The technology used to turn wheat into Toyotas out in the Pacific is called ‘Japan’

Economist David Friedman observes, for instance, that there are two ways for the United States to produce cars: they can build them in Detroit, or they can grow them in Iowa. Growing them in Iowa makes use of a special technology that turns wheat into Toyotas: simply put the wheat onto ships and send them out into the Pacific ocean. The ships come back a short while later with Toyotas on them. The technology used to turn wheat into Toyotas out in the Pacific is called ‘Japan’, but it could just as easily be a futuristic biofactory floating off the coast of Hawaii.

T. Harford, The undercover economist (2010), Kindle edition, location 3312

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