Friday Philosophy

Economists who have written on punishment find Rothbard's “double restitution” idea puzzling, because they think about it only in terms of economic efficiency. But Rothbard's theory is based on a moral principle.

The political theorist Douglas W. Rae argues that to get the advantages of Hayekian freedom, everybody should be guaranteed a minimum amount of resources so that they can fully participate in the market.

Freedom is not the ability to do what you want. This definition leads to all kinds of mischief, as freedom is really the absence of the threat of force.