Are we learning as a society?

It seems to be that there is so much information out there, too much for us to process. As a result we tend to base out decisions on anecdotal experience rather than rational/scientific method. There are no firms answers to the most significant questions:

What is more efficient, private sector or public sector, centralised or decentralised?
What is better, the carrot or the stick?

Society swings from one side to another: after witnessing the inefficiencies of public sector bureaucracy it cries out for competition. Then, after experiencing the corruption of the private sector it remembers the fond old days of the honest civil servant.

Perhaps it is appropriate to swing: change is good. But is change not inefficient?