Competitive markets seem to have a great deal in common with the little girl who had a little curl. When they are good, they are so very good that our participation in them becomes part of our unconscious daily routine. If I want broccoli for supper, there is broccoli waiting for me at the grocery store. Down the aisle are the green peppers, locally grown in summer and Mexican in winter. The bananas are from Ecuador and the apples are from as far away as New Zealand. The presence of each item on the grocer's shelves is the result of a complex chain of decisions made by the grocer, the wholesaler, the shipper, and the farmer. Their actions are co-ordinated by prices, and this fact has important implications for the way in which specialized knowledge is utilized. The farmer does not need to know anything about shipping or the grocery business or the making of fertilizers, nor need he communicate to anyone his specialized knowledge of farming. He need know only the prices at which various crops can be sold, and the prices at which factors of production can be purchased.