Often business ventures will contain hidden costs, an action that seemed beneficial and profitable can sometimes turn out to cost the businessman money rather than making it for him. “The Parable of the Broken Window” was conceptualized by Frederic Bastiat and it is a fable cited by economists to portray unintended consequences. In the parable a shopkeeper’s window is broken by a small boy, initially there is sympathy for the shopkeeper but soon people see how the broken window makes work for the glazier, who buys bread with the money benefiting the baker, who buys shoes with the money benefiting the cobbler and so on. (more…)