Insightful post from Bryan Caplan.

Definitely read the entire post, it’s not long.

Market Failure: The Case of Organic Food, Bryan Caplan – EconLog: Right-leaning people typically believe that (a) markets work, and (b) organic food is a scam. I definitely fit the profile. As a result, my every trip to the grocery store inspires cognitive dissonance. Organic food isn’t merely on the shelves; it’s growing by leaps and bounds. The organic industry itself claims that sales grew from $1B in 1990 to $27B in 2010, with 7.7% sales growth in 2010. What on earth is going on? How can my cognitive dissonance be resolved?
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Nevertheless, one big difference between markets and democracy remains. In democracy, if the median voter is a fool, everyone has to live under foolish policies. The great redeeming feature of markets is that anyone who figures out that, say, organic food is a waste of money can immediately stop wasting his money. This is far from a perfect system. But democracy, unlike markets, adds injury to insult. In the market, the rationalist suffers fools. In democracy, the rationalist doesn’t just suffer fools. He obeys them. Or else.