The lesson is simple but profound. Societies, like airlines, are far better off relying on incentives and voluntary transactions than on diktat and coercion.

To understand how societies can be organized differently, ask yourself: Who picks up the garbage? That question was answered one way in the Soviet Union and Cuba, another way in the U.S. and Western Europe.
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In modern societies (as opposed to traditional ones), the garbage gets picked up for one of two reasons. Either the state assigns someone to do it and punishes them if they don’t do it or don’t do it well. Or labor markets let people choose the job voluntarily, judging for themselves what available work is best.