Friedrich Hayek on and profit and loss

As we now know, in the evolution of the structure of human activities, profitability works as a signal that guides selection towards what makes man more fruitful; only what is more profitable will, as a rule, nourish more people, for it sacrifices less than it adds.

~ Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit (1988), Chapter 3: "The Evolution of the Market", p. 46