A Twilight Zone Episode Reveals the Brilliance of Free Trade

Perhaps the clearest and most vivid illustration of the value of the division of labor is found not in Adam Smith's description in the economic classic “The Wealth of Nations” of the efficiency of a specialized pin factory, but in an episode of Rod Serling's 1950s television classic “Twilight Zone.” The episode, entitled “Time Enough at Last,” demonstrates – perhaps unintentionally – that even under the most fortuitous of circumstances, self-sufficiency is no match for interdependence.