Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics

Volume 4, No. 2 (Summer 2001)

To build a roads system, an administrative price mechanism—commercialization—may yield some solutions to the problems of public roads (congestion, overutilization, etc.), but it gives rise to other problems that cannot be solved by central planners. To solve fully the problems associated with public roads, we must envision a system with no arbitrary hindrances and with clearly defined and exchangeable property rights in the roads network and land.If the roads network is to be subject to market discipline, it must be desocialized, not merely commercialized.