Insider

Your all-access pass to FP

Adam Tooze: Why the Common Pencil Isn’t Just a Back-to-School Item

To Milton Friedman, it was a metaphor for free market economics.

By , a deputy editor at Foreign Policy.
A row of the ends of five yellow school pencils, four with erasers up, and one with a sharpened top pointing up.
A row of the ends of five yellow school pencils, four with erasers up, and one with a sharpened top pointing up.
iStock photo

The pencil is a humble writing instrument but also a powerful cultural symbol. It represents the universal experience of education in elementary schools, but it has become a metaphor for the free market economy, thanks to economist Milton Friedman. Friedman famously described the manufacturing of pencils as one example of the miraculous power of the capitalist price mechanism. The accuracy of that description has been challenged—but its cultural impact is harder to dispute.

Cameron Abadi is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @CameronAbadi

Join the Conversation

Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription.

Already a subscriber? .

View Comments

Join the Conversation

Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now.

Not your account?

View Comments

Join the Conversation

Please follow our comment guidelines, stay on topic, and be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs.

You are commenting as .
Tags: Economics, United States

Read More

Then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez arrives for a closed-door briefing by intelligence officials at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez arrives for a closed-door briefing by intelligence officials at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Blue Hawk Down

Sen. Bob Menendez’s indictment will shape the future of Congress’s foreign policy.

Report
Robbie Gramer
U.S. President Joe Biden, center, is welcomed by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, left, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, second from left, on arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan.
U.S. President Joe Biden, center, is welcomed by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, left, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, second from left, on arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan.

A President on the Picket Line?

Why Biden’s solidarity with autoworkers is globally unprecedented.

Insider
Adam Tooze, Cameron Abadi
Hand-painted wooden nesting dolls stand on a table. Two are painted with an image of U.S. President Joe Biden, shown from the torso upward, wearing a black suit and smiling against an American flag background. Next to these is a doll painted with the image of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who smiles against a Chinese flag background.
Hand-painted wooden nesting dolls stand on a table. Two are painted with an image of U.S. President Joe Biden, shown from the torso upward, wearing a black suit and smiling against an American flag background. Next to these is a doll painted with the image of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who smiles against a Chinese flag background.

The U.S. Cannot Afford to Lose a Soft-Power Race With China

With a government shutdown looming, Washington’s key diplomatic assets have become a political bargaining chip.

Analysis
Raja Krishnamoorthi

latest

‘We Don’t Want to Lose Our Second Motherland’

All the Palestinians Got From Oslo Was KFC

The End of Nagorno-Karabakh

What in the World?

What Does Nagorno-Karabakh’s Fall Mean for Great Power Influence?
See All Stories

Editors’ Picks

  1. 1
    Iran Is Exploiting Divisions and U.S. Inaction in Iraqi Kurdistan
  2. 2
    All the Palestinians Got From Oslo Was KFC
  3. 3
    The U.S. Cannot Afford to Lose a Soft-Power Race With China
  4. 4
    Blue Hawk Down
  5. 5
    Washington Is Losing Credibility Over the Canada-India Spat
  6. 6
    U.S. Fears Sudan’s War Will Worsen Humanitarian Crisis

More from Foreign Policy

A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.
A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.

No, the World Is Not Multipolar

The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.
The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.

America Can’t Stop China’s Rise

And it should stop trying.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.

The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky

The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.

Trending

  1. The U.S. Cannot Afford to Lose a Soft-Power Race With China
    Analysis
    Raja Krishnamoorthi

  2. Blue Hawk Down
    Report
    Robbie Gramer

  3. All the Palestinians Got From Oslo Was KFC
    Essay
    Dalia Hatuqa

  4. No, the World Is Not Multipolar
    Essay
    Jo Inge Bekkevold

  5. Iran Is Exploiting Divisions and U.S. Inaction in Iraqi Kurdistan
    Argument
    Ranj Alaaldin