“It’s a metaphor for my sense of economics,” Mr. Romer said.
“I picture an economist showing up at Burning Man and saying: ‘Oh, look! This is the miracle of the invisible hand. All of this stuff happens by self-interest, and it just magically appears.’ And there’s this huge amount of planning that actually is what’s required beneath it to make the order emerge.”
On this point, the economist and the Burners kept converging: Freedom requires some structure, creativity some constraints. But it was becoming clear there was more to the structure and constraints at Burning Man than Mr. Romer imagined. As he learned that, he inched even further toward the urban planners.
I find this type of exploration fascinating in so many ways – so much here – urban planning, pattern recognition, economics, etc. I especially love the story of a Nobel Laureate offering his email address and a graduate school recommendation as gratitude for “something cold and orange and alcoholic.”