QUOTED MATERIAL:  

We live in an imperfect world full of problems. That fact contributes to the ongoing media drumbeat over imminent catastrophe. Horror stories sell; news items about incremental improvements are not interesting except to people in the industries working to make life a little bit better. One horror story is that of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious phenomenon affecting honey bees. It is a real problem that not long ago produced headlines such as "Bee Colony Collapses Could Threaten U.S. Food Supply" (Associated Press, May 3, 2007).  

The problem still exists but gets little news because, once again, the sky did not fall. People in the beekeeping industry reacted to the problem so swiftly that pollination continued and the food supply was saved. Too often it is presumed when reading about environmental issues in the doom-and-gloom media that politicians are needed to save the day. In the case of colony collapse, luckily it never got to political intervention. As is often the case, the uncoordinated market quietly resolved what had been posited as a major crisis.  

Our examination of the operation of pollination markets leads us to conclude that beekeepers are savvy entrepreneurs who use their wealth of knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place (see Hayek 1945) -- acquired over their lifetimes of work -- to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. Not only was there not a failure of bee-related markets, but they adapted quickly and effectively to the changes ...

Colony collapse disorder: The market response to bee Disease
By Randal R. Rucker & Walter N. Thurman
Editor Roger Meiners
PER C Polic y Ser ies • No. 50 • 2012

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