But many people are tempted to speed ahead, thus ruining the flow for everyone. This problem generalizes to a major branch of economics. In other words, Campos believes capitalism harnesses that destructive behavior which otherwise causes some drivers to screw up traffic, and turns it into productivity. But Campos has got it exactly backwards. Capitalism rewards those with the moral maturity to cooperate with others and develop their productive skills, while it punishes those who seek to benefit at the expense of others.
Capitalism allows people to solve the problems of mutually destructive behavior.
The more capitalism takes hold in a society, the more cooperation is achieved and the greater the level of civilization. Of course, capitalism can't solve all our problems. The late merger problem remains, even though it only occurs when a road is under construction. If Campos wants to claim that capitalism somehow harnesses mutually destructive behavior, he might as well claim that aspirin works by taking advantage of the pain of a headache. The trouble with this armchair theorizing is that things like lighthouses and dams have, it turns out, indeed flourished in the free market.