By now more or less everyone is aware that there has been a disastrous mining accident in West Virginia this week.
There are many people dead, and at the time this is written it is still possible that survivors might be found.
We don’t know much about why these disasters happen, for the most part, and we don’t really understand how to make things better.
Today, I’m here to fix some of that.
By the end of today’s story, you’ll understand a lot more about why people die in mines than you do now-and as an extra bonus, we’ll also discuss a radical new way to bring market forces into the process of making mines safer.