The Corporation at Issue, Part I: The Clash of Classical Liberal Values and the Negative Consequences for Capitalist Practices

In an article published in this journal, Walter Block (2002, pp. 3–36) is rather scathing about Henry Simons’s credentials as a champion of free enterprise. But it seems possible to be considerably more generous to Simons than Block is, and to regard him as significantly less unlibertarian than Block does, which is not to deny that many of Simons’s policy proposals cannot be squared with classical liberal or libertarian principles, or that much of Block’s critique is justified. Key to a more charitable consideration of Simons is to keep his overriding concern in mind: that an inconvertible fiat money system and the corporate form of the private business organization are inconsistent with classical liberal or libertarian premises.

Volume 19, Number 3 (2005)