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Thomas Sowell argues that intellectuals cling to bad ideas because they are generally insulated from consequences. While most people pay a price for being wrong and are forced to adapt, intellectuals are judged more by the approval of their peers than by whether their ideas actually work.

Thomas Sowell remained a Marxist well into his twenties, even after studying economics at the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman. What changed his mind was his experience working for the Department of Labor in 1960. While studying Puerto Rico’s sugar industry, Sowell found that unemployment was rising as federally mandated minimum wages increased. He expected government officials to share his interest in whether the minimum wage law was actually helping workers. Instead, he discovered that they were more concerned with preserving the law because it provided roughly a third of the department’s funding. That experience fundamentally changed Sowell’s view of government. He realized that public officials, like everyone else, have their own self-interest and that they may preserve programs that benefit them regardless of the effects on those the programs are meant to help.