Philosophy and Methodology

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Can free enterprise be the sole provider of law and justice? Robert Murphy, author of Chaos Theory, writes that the idea is often dismissed out of hand.

Michael Rozeff explains ways in which power comes to work its evil. A ruler is never as careful with public money as with his own.

There are many enemies of a free society. Some, like Ronald Coase, call themselves libertarians or free enterprisers. Block’s main critique of Coase is that Ronald Coase denies any private property rights. Coase deals with externalities through taxes only, but not with property rights at all.

Block says he was a pinko commie type at 22 who believed that laissez-faire capitalism would result in mass starvation. Then, he met Ayn Rand and read Atlas Shrugged and Economics in One Lesson. Block says libertarianism is the non-aggression principle. Keep your mitts to yourself.

Block continues to parse all of the cases of libertarianism found in his book, Defending the Undefendable. Privatization solves the tragedy of the commons scenarios. Rent control resulted in nobody building residential units.