Mark, I am surprised you would be making this argument ... do you believe that the "market" for legislation is efficient because it exists? Whatever is, isn't necessarily efficient. The market for ideas in economics is a distorted market. Fads and fashions come and go all the time. Science is not like a market because it lacks certain institutions which are the backdrop against which markets operate.
Nobody ever said individuals pursuing their self interest, under whatever conceivable set of institutions you could imagine, would generate a desirable social order. The invisible hand postulate is specified within an institutional environment. Of course, some really fascinating research has been done on the application of invisible hand processes to the framework itself. I have a paper with Bill Butos which examines the nature of science and its relationship to entrepreneurship and if anyone is interested just send me an email and I will send you the attached file. Pete Boettke
