Imagine a local baker trying out a new recipe: extra caramel, a pinch of cinnamon. Some neighbors taste it and immediately want another slice. Others prefer the classic version and skip it. Those simple choices create information that producers listen to. The baker tweaks the recipe, maybe lightens the filling or adds flaky sea salt. When customers rave, other bakers pay attention. Creativity spreads.

Soon, pecan pie isn’t just pecan pie anymore. It becomes a whole category of creativity born out of consumer tastes and producer inventiveness: classic pecan pie for traditionalists, bourbon pecan pie for those who like deeper flavor, salted caramel pecan pie for the sweet-and-savory crowd, chocolate pecan pie for dessert lovers who want a richer twist, maple pecan pie for those avoiding corn syrup, mini pecan tarts, gluten-free crusts, and vegan versions for people with different needs and preferences. All experiments that exist because producers are free to innovate and consumers are free to choose.

And the ripple keeps going. Farmers start planting new pecan varieties - bigger, richer, sweeter - because people want them. Grocery stores widen their dessert shelves. Restaurants craft seasonal menus around these new flavors. Even kitchen-supply companies jump in with tools for pecan-pie perfectionists. One simple dessert multiplies into dozens of options because buyers and sellers are responding to each other in real time.

That explosion of choice and the variety we enjoy is possible only because both sides of the market are free. Consumers freely choose what they like, what they don’t, and what they’re willing and able to pay for. Producers freely decide what to create, experiment with, and offer in response to those choices. When those freedoms meet, the market becomes a dynamic conversation. Consumers vote with their purchases; producers compete with ideas. Prices adjust to reflect demand and supply. Good ideas spread, and bad ideas fade.

But this only happens when people are free. If consumers can’t choose or producers can’t experiment because of unnecessary restrictions, limited information, or barriers that favor a few, the variety shrinks, innovation stalls, and the market stops reflecting people’s real preferences. A market is “free” only when the people inside it are free to act on their own tastes, creativity, and opportunities. As Mises said:

“Freedom is indivisible. As soon as one starts to restrict it, one enters upon a decline on which it is difficult to stop.”
                                                                                     - Ludwig von Mises, Human Action (1949)

So, which comes first then? Free people or a free market? In practice, they build each other. Free people drive markets forward with their choices, and free markets expand people’s options and opportunities.

And this is exactly why at Brookfield Academy we teach economics and freedom as lived and experienced in the market. Our mission is to graduate students who are constructive, free-thinking individuals, who understand that freedom is one comprehensive, inseparable concept. Our graduates leave fully aware of what freedom means in all spheres of life, and fully aware of their rights as human beings, as consumers, as producers, and as entrepreneurs if they choose that path. Understanding markets is not just about prices and products; it’s about understanding how personal freedom expresses itself in everyday choices and how it shapes the opportunities we all share.

And if you ever doubt the power of that freedom, just look at the pecan-pie aisle. Every slice, every twist, every new recipe exists because consumers express what they want and producers are free to imagine something new. The market is a mix of choices, ideas, and freedom - consumed one bite at a time.