March 22, 2010 11:41AM 

# Rat Falls Back on the Broken Window Fallacy 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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In Sunday’s “Pearls Before Swine” comic strip, the nefarious Rat is now a PR flak. And when his client accidentally blows up downtown, he comes up with a solid economic defense:

![Pearls Before Swine](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/c0389161.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/142663309415/314155.full_.gif?itok=Z7LMX34x) 

Go [here](http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/what-is-seen-and-what-is-not-seen-2/) for Frederic Bastiat’s original explication of the “broken window fallacy,” and for way too much detail, go to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window). John Stossel breaks some windows [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPmo2e-bAMQ) and talks to Walter Williams about the implications.

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