Bastiat explained the economics of this with a parable about a broken window. A shopkeeper’s son accidentally breaks a window. The unhappy shopkeeper must pay to replace the window.
However, other observers explain that the broken window is actually a net gain. Glass makers need to sell windows to stay in business. The shop gets a shiny, new window. The child is now the glass maker’s hero. Many more people benefit, because the glass maker has extra money to spend on other business. Money circulates and “employs” a whole community. It’s a win-win situation!
What is seen in this flawed theory is the new window and spreading wealth. But what about the effect on the shopkeeper that others conveniently overlook? After replacing the window, he now has less money. What is unseen is what the shopkeeper could have done with that money. Instead of replacing a broken window, he could have bought a new pair of shoes. This benefits the shoe maker, who can now spend money elsewhere.
The broken window fallacy and the idea of the unseen is at the root of so many bad ideas we see around us. Bastiat should be required reading for our youth. My boys read "The Law" in High School because we added it to their reading requirements.
Destruction doesn’t increase an economy. It only decreases it while benefiting some people at the expense of others.
These words echoed in my heart as I thought about the abortion debate. I wonder how many have tested this issue with the broken window fallacy. I invite you to see how abortion can lead us to the fallacy of “the blessings of destruction.” We can forget that shaded “third person” in this issue. No matter how we may be tempted to reason, ending an unborn human life in the womb is an act of “destruction.”
This way of thinking about this is something I often do when it comes to my thinking about free markets, imperialism, and socialism. I often think about how many things we could enjoy if the prosperity we enjoy because of our freedom to exchange ideas and goods with each other was universally enjoyed by our brothers and sisters around the globe.
We do not know because it is unseen. There might be a young boy in Kenya that would have found a cure for cancer had he been born in a prosperous free nation.
The same is true of those whose lives were ended before they had a chance to be born in the free West.
For abortion proponents, an unplanned pregnancy may be a tragedy, and the solution is to end it. What is seen is the pain, grief, and fear of an unprepared mother or couple. No one should dare minimize that! What is also seen is the cost of pregnancy and child rearing. But what is unseen is the human life that will end by force: the “third person.”
Many pro-life people do not entertain these arguments but I have found that many people that support legal abortion do not think it is a good thing. They see it as sadly, a necessary thing. Of course, there are far too many people who clearly don't value the lives of the unborn and these people really need to do some soul searching.
When an abortion happens, the “immediate” effect seen is the relief from a disruptive and difficult situation. But, as Bastiat taught, an action has multiple unseen effects. What is unseen is the pain the unborn child may have experienced, a life forcefully ended, and the potential effects this loss will carry.
Like the broken window fallacy shows, money circulates if a window is broken or not. Remember, the broken window is a net loss. What is seen with an abortion is the perceived economic benefit that the woman is now more free to offer society. What is unseen, however, is the human dignity, value, worth, and potential economic benefit the child could have offered society.
Thinking about the unseen is very humbling. Or at least it should be. I'm reminded of those that wielded power with such arrogance during the pandemic. Seldom are those in positions of political power humble. But, to some extent they are a reflection of those they claim to represent. Maybe a poor reflection but a reflection none the less.
Food for thought.