The Miracle of Supermarkets – The Perspective of the Austrian School of Economics (Université de Montréal)

The MEI, in collaboration with l’Association des étudiants et étudiantes en sciences économiques de l’Université de Montréal, held a panel discussion featuring Professor Pierre Desrochers and Kevin Brookes.

The role played by market prices in transmitting information is certainly among the most original features of the Austrian School of Economics.

This event presented this vision, as well as a case study of supermarkets as a model of efficient market processes. Bringing together food products from all over the world to sell them in a single place is one of the logistical marvels of modern market economies. But it is not simply a matter of moving physical goods around; a crucial part of the process involves exchanging information about consumer demand and about all these products and their distribution. The speakers presented the negative consequences for consumers of abandoning this system. This is a topical issue at a time when the federal government has launched consultations to develop a “national food policy.”

Pierre Desrochers holds a Ph.D. in geography from the Université de Montréal. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Department of Geography and an Associate Researcher at the MEI.

Kevin Brookes holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Political Science from the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Grenoble Alpes and has published articles and book reviews on the history of political thought in many academic journals.

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