Adam Smith, the father of economics, had a problem. He believed in the wisdom of markets--that the free market would always settle on the best price for something. That price would be an expression of how valuable that item was. The problem: diamonds are more expensive than water and water is more valuable to us than diamonds.

We talked to Linda Yueh about the paradox and Smith.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

300x250 Ad

300x250 Ad

Support quality journalism, like the story above, with your gift right now.

Donate