To establish a functional economic system, human beings are forced with the choice: Advocacy of competition, or advocacy of cooperation. Ah, the fundamental dichotomy of economic ideology – Individualism and Collectivism, Capitalism and Socialism. More like Bullshit and Ignorance.
In any economic system, competition and cooperation co-exist and form a distinct, constructive relationship. Meaningful cooperation cannot exist in the absence of competition. Competition arises to solve disputes of comparative advantage i.e., which acting entity is in the best position to be providing a particular good or service. Many may imagine that a utopian state would require no such disputes, and no such competition – that in a perfectly harmonious economy, where economic actors had infinite wisdom, each and every individual would understand where their efforts could be most valuably applied, and to the greatest benefit of the economy as a whole. As disputes arise inevitably in human nature, disputes arise in economic calculations. The underlying premise of the dispute is: “My goods and services can better serve the demands of consumers than yours.” The participants of the dispute, in their objective to bring resolution, act to demonstrate their comparative advantage over the other. Prices, qualities, and volumes are diligently interpreted. Innovations and efficiencies are strewn strategically about in a matter comparable to a sporting event. The referees, (consumers), equipped with their scorecards (subjective valuation judgments), decide the outcome of the game. In the aftermath of the dispute, there is an implicit acknowledgement of consumer choice – that one enterprise has demonstrated comparative superiority in a distinct economic niche, and that the other, in their incessant pursuit to put forth value, must distinguish themselves from the victor. There is cooperation.
