The role of the private sector in the production of road services has been extensively studied and has generated substantial theoretical and empirical work (Block 2006; Carnis 2006; Roth 2006). There is debate as to the modalities of privatisation (Block 2006; Carnis 2003; Hoppe 1991) and the functioning of a market system for the providing of road services (Carnis 2001; Roth 1996; Block 1979).

Published in the Cato Journal Vol. 19, No. 2, Fall 1999.

Insights and Exaggerations

Economists of the Austrian school put special emphasis on subjectivism. This article reviews why subjectivist insights are important, but it also warns against exaggerations. The latter part, while briefer, particularly warrants attention in Austrian circles.

Israel M. Kirzner VENTURA Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Paper Capture Plug-in

From The Review of Austrian Economics Vol. 7, No. 2, 1994.

From The Review of Austrian Economics Vol. 9, No. 1, 1996.

skjar Microsoft Word - 019-034 Brewster on impossibility _16-3_ Final.doc

Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) was just one man with a typewriter, but he inspired a world-wide renewal in the scholarship of liberty. During 45 years of research and writing, in 25 books and thousands of articles, he battled every destructive trend in this century — socialism, statism, relativism, and scientism — and awakened a passion for freedom in thousands of scholars, journalists, and activists.

Every four years, as the November presidential election draws near, I have the same daydream: that I don’t know or care who the president of the United States is. More importantly, I don’t need to know or care. I don’t have to vote or even pay attention to debates. I can ignore all campaign commercials. There are no high stakes for my family or my country. My liberty and property are so secure that, frankly, it doesn’t matter who wins. I don’t even need to know his name.

The art of economics consists of looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.