In this timely book, Walter E. Block uses classical liberal theory to defend private property rights. Looking at how free enterprise, capitalism and libertarianism are cornerstones of economically prosperous civilizations, Block highlights why private property rights are crucial. Discussing philosophy, libertarian property rights theory, reparations and other property rights issues, this volume is of interest to academics, students, journalists and all those interested in this integral aspect of political economic philosophy.
In Free Enterprise Environmentalism, Walter E. Block argues that laissez-faire capitalism can address climate change more effectively than socialism and government regulation. Block advocates for the role of markets, free enterprise, limited government, and private property rights in service of environmental protections. Covering topics such as extinction, overpopulation, pollution, and resources exhaustion, this volume offers alternate solutions to environmental degradation than have been proposed by the political left.
Water covers some 75% of the earth’s surface, while land covers 25%, approximately. Yet the former accounts for less than 1% of world GDP, the latter 99% plus. Part of the reason for this imbalance is that there are more people located on land than water. But a more important explanation is that while land is privately owned, water is unowned (with the exception of a few small lakes and ponds), or governmentally owned (rivers, large lakes). This gives rise to the tragedy of the commons: when something is unowned, people have less of an incentive to care for it, preserve it, and protect it, than when they own it. As a result we have oil spills, depletion of fish stocks, threatened extinction of some species (e.g. whales), shark attacks, polluted and dried-up rivers, misallocated water, unsafe boating, piracy, and other indices of economic disarray which, if they had occurred on the land, would have been more easily identified as the result of the tragedy of the commons and/or government ownership and mismanagement. The purpose of this book is to make the case for privatization of all bodies of water, without exception. In the tragic example of the Soviet Union, the 97% of the land owned by the state accounted for 75% of the crops. On the 3% of the land privately owned, 25% of the crops were grown. The obvious mandate requires that we privatize the land, and prosper. The present volume applies this lesson, in detail, to bodies of water.
The U.S. Bishops and Their Critics is a detailed response to the recommendations made by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in the Pastoral Letter "Economic Justice for All." Though written in 1986, the criticisms made by Dr. Walter Block and his peers are very relevant to the social and economic realities we face today in 2013. This book is a must-read for those interested in libertarianism, theology, and social justice.About the AuthorWalter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books which include Defending the Undefendable; Lexicon of Economic Thought, Economic Freedom of the World 1975-1995; Rent Control: Myths and Realities; Discrimination, Affirmative Action, and Equal Opportunity; Theology, Third Word Development and Economic Justice; Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard; Religion, Economics, and Social Thought; and Economic Freedom: Toward a Theory of Measurement.Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such journals The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the ;Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics at Loyola University.
This book probes the depths of libertarian philosophy and highlights the need for laws that protect all individuals in society. This book defines libertarianism as a theory of what is just law, it is predicated upon the non-aggression principle (NAP). This legal foundation of the libertarian philosophy states that it should be illicit to threaten or engage in initiatory violence against innocent people. Ultimately, this book presents the notion, defend the “undefendable.” This book defines that as; any person, institution, professional, worker, which is either reviled by virtually everyone, or prohibited by law, and does not violate the NAP. Weaved throughout, this book uses political philosophy to present three fundamental premises to explain this libertarian point of view. Firstly, this book defines the non-aggression principle (NAP). Secondly, demonstrates the importance and relevance of private property rights in this context. This book uses practical examples to demonstrate the theoretical application of freedom rights using libertarianism principles.
Walter Block has for decades been one of the most effective and indefatigable defenders of libertarianism. One feature in his writing stands out, from his classic Defending the Undefendable to the present. He consistently applies the principles of libertarianism to every situation in a bold and original way. Readers of Toward a Libertarian Society, a collection of his articles from lewrockwell.com, will find this feature abundantly on display. Block believes that libertarianism has three components: foreign policy, economic policy, and policies on personal liberties. He devotes a separate part of the book to each of these components. In foreign affairs, Block is a resolute non-interventionist. He is an anarchist who rejects the state altogether; but, so long as a state exists, it should confine its foreign policy to defense against invasion. Doing so is in line with the tradition of Washington and John Quincy Adams. In our own day, Ron Paul has been the foremost champion of non-intervention; and Paul has few, if any, more ardent advocates than Walter Block. In economic policy, Block defends the free market against all types of interference. One issue especially concerns him: the activities of labor unions. Against union advocates, Block emphasizes that wages depend on workers’ marginal productivity. Block is equally decisive in macroeconomics. He calls for the total abolition of the Fed. Block, never one to avoid controversy, argues that much in the contemporary feminist movement is antithetical to libertarianism. Readers will learn his views about abortion, stem-cell research, and punishment theory. He is a firm advocate of the possibility and desirability of political secession. Reading Toward a Libertarian Society is the equivalent of a college course in libertarianism, taught by a master teacher.
This book applies libertarian property rights theory to a vexing controversy, abortion. This book offers a compromise solution that will not fully please either of the two sides of this debate, but, is the only possible reconciliation between the two. Nor are its benefits limited to the fact that the opposing forces in this debate may be brought together. Evictionism, also, is the only philosophical position compatible with human rights; neither of the other two can make this claim. There are many other publications and learned articles supporting the pro-life position as well as defending the pro-life viewpoint. This is the only book that offers a perspective on abortion that is radically different than both. This book uniquely applies private property rights theories we all agree upon when referred to issues such as real estate, crime, torts, etc., to abortion. The underlying philosophical contribution of Evictionism this book presents is that these basic legal premises can be utilized in this controversial case as well as practically everywhere else in law. Want to solve the abortion controversy? Want to demonstrate that both the pro-life and the pro-choice positions are erroneous? Want to read about a position that is a compromise between the pro-life and the pro-choice positions? Then this book provides robust understanding, discussions and applications for getting to the truth about this issue.
Labor is the most important of the three traditional factors of production (land, labor and capital), accounting for some 75% of the GDP. It is therefore important to focus on issues of labor economics. In this book the approach taken will be that of the free market philosophy of libertarianism, the perspective that allows the maximum of freedom, consistent with the responsibility of all to respect the equal rights of all others.The position of this book on unions is unique outside of the libertarian movement, and this is indicative of its analysis of several other issues, such as minimum wages. For scholars on the left, it is almost true that unions can do no wrong (for Marxists, they do not do enough, but that is another story). Their role is to raise wages for the workingman, and this task is almost unstintingly applauded. Conservatives, on the other hand, oppose unions root and branch (except for their support of foreign wars, which is also another story). To this end they support a welter of regulations, designed to reduce their power: limitations of check offs, forced secret ballots, etc.For libertarians, the analysis depends, intimately, on whether or not these are voluntary organizations. If they are, there is no more justification for imposing secret ballots on them than to do so for the chess or garden club. If they are not, they should not be weakened by restrictions, but, rather, banned, and their leaders imprisoned.
Del Rio. Val Verde. By the river. The Green Valley. The great grand parents and their kin came. By horse . . . wagon . . . stage coach . . . foot back. They settled the village. Helped name it Del Rio. Assisted in forming Val Verde County. Grandparents told stories: of their coming to live in the wonderful country where Devils River, the Pecos, and the Rio Grande meet . . . of early times in the boundary area where the Chihuahuan Desert from the west meets hills of the Edwards Plateau to the north and merges with Tamaulipas brush land from the south and the east. Times change. Winter-time tale-tellings before the fireplace on grand-dad’s knee . . . warm-weather story-sharings on the back porch in grand-ma’s lap . . . wisps of Prince Albert pipe smoke . . .twinkings of twilight fire-flies . . . all eroded away by movies, television, and cell phones. But there are still stories to tell. Tales to pass on. Things we want children – grandchildren – those still to come – to remember – in times yet to be. This book is a gathering of happenings – remembrances of events – glimpses of parenting – thoughts of yesteryear. It tells of: Horses and windmills and tarantulas . . . a wrong-way bus trip . . . a hidden wedding ring . . . sycamore trees . . . a lost bath and football shack showers . . . lions and toads and tin soldiers . . . a picket fence . . . old telephones . . . poison pig weed . . . a crusty old red rooster . . . building boats and reviving old cars . . . holiday traditions . . . hunting experiences . . . sailing fiascos . . . and more.
Grandparents are story tellers. Early-day lessons are learned while listening in their laps . . . in the rocking chairs . . . by the winter fireplaces . . . on the summer porches. These pages just pass on some tales my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and others of their generation told. And a few of mine. The tales were sent one at a time via e-mail to my children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends scattered from Texas to California, Canada, Virginia, and Florida. As the yarns were received and read, the readers responded, provided critical comments, and helped compose a book of remembrances for those yet to come. There may have been some enhancement in the lore and spiel of those who came before me. There might be a wee stretch in some of my contributions. But mostly this is the way it was.
Professor Walter Block's new book, Legalize Blackmail, collects a lifetime of his scholarly articles about blackmail in which he examines the legal and economic underpinnings of blackmail, traces its historical roots, and presents a libertarian framework for thinking about blackmail and its place in the law. Along the way, he confronts the theories of blackmail put forward by many other distinguished scholars, including Richard Posner, Robert Nozick, and Richard Epstein.
This book applies libertarian property rights theory to a vexing controversy, abortion. This book offers a compromise solution that will not fully please either of the two sides of this debate, but, is the only possible reconciliation between the two. Nor are its benefits limited to the fact that the opposing forces in this debate may be brought together. Evictionism, also, is the only philosophical position compatible with human rights; neither of the other two can make this claim. There are many other publications and learned articles supporting the pro-life position as well as defending the pro-life viewpoint. This is the only book that offers a perspective on abortion that is radically different than both. This book uniquely applies private property rights theories we all agree upon when referred to issues such as real estate, crime, torts, etc., to abortion. The underlying philosophical contribution of Evictionism this book presents is that these basic legal premises can be utilized in this controversial case as well as practically everywhere else in law. Want to solve the abortion controversy? Want to demonstrate that both the pro-life and the pro-choice positions are erroneous? Want to read about a position that is a compromise between the pro-life and the pro-choice positions? Then this book provides robust understanding, discussions and applications for getting to the truth about this issue.
Two noted professors on opposite sides of the cultural wars come together and engage in "cooperative argumentation." One, a "Jewish, atheist libertarian" and the other a "mixed blood American Indian" bring to the table two radically different worldviews to bear on the role of colleges and universities in studying social and ecological justice. The result is an entertaining and enlightening journey that reveals surprising connections and previously misunderstood rationales that may be at the root of a world too polarized to function sanely.
Looking at discrimination, education, environment, health and crime, this volume analyses United States Supreme Court rulings on several legal issues and proposed libertarian solutions to each problem. Setting their own liberal theory of law, each chapter discusses the law at hand, what it should be, and what it would be if their political economic philosophy were the justification of the legal practice. Covering issues such as sexual harassment, religion, markets in human organs, drug prohibition and abortion, this book is a timely contribution to classical liberal debate on law and economics.
This book covers several areas of economic theory and political philosophy from the perspective of Austrian Economics and libertarianism. As such, it deals with Epistemology and Methodology, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, International Economics, Political Philosophy, Law and Public Policy, all from the Austro-libertarian perspective. Hence, this book offers an integrated view of libertarianism and Austrian economics in the light of recent debates in the areas of economic science and political philosophy. Moreover, it builds from the foundations of the Austrian approach (epistemology and methodology), while the latter material deals with its application to the individual from the microeconomic perspective, which in turn allows an exploration of subjects in macroeconomics. Additionally, this work applies Austro-libertarianism to law, politics, and public policy. Thus, it offers a unified view of the entire approach, in a logical progression, allowing the readers to judge this perspective in full. Futerman and Block say that their book is not a manual, which I suppose it is not. But it is a collection of highly pertinent essays, from which you can understand what is mistaken in the orthodoxy of economics, law, and politics. The central term of art in Austrian economics is that phrase “human action.” It is the exercise of human will, not the blind bumping of one molecule against another or one organism against another, as in the physical sciences... Futerman and Block distinguish Austrian economics as a scientific enterprise based on liberty of the will from “libertarianism” as an advocacy based on policies implied by such liberty. “Although Austrian economics is positive and libertarianism is normative,” they write, “this book shows how both are related; how each can support the other.” Indeed they do. Deirdre N. McCloskey, PhD UIC Distinguished Professor of Economics and of History Emerita, Professor of English Emerita, Professor of Communication Emerita, University of Illinois at Chicago
Volume 3 (2014) of the Journal of Peace Prosperity and Freedom contains the following 151 pages of contents: Editor’s note Articles The myth of democratic peace: Why democracy cannot deliver peace in the 21st century By James Ostrowski Two visions, one future: How neoconservative preemptive war isolated libertarians By Marcus Witcher The irony of the minimum wage law: limiting choices versus expanding choices By Robert Batemarco, Walter Block and Charles Seltzer Medical licensing: political control over access By Brian Bedkober The theory and ideas of libertarianism By William Stacey Response to Chris Leithner’s review of Money, Banking and the Business Cycle By Brian P. Simpson Rejoinder to Brian Simpson’s comment on Money, Banking and the Business Cycle By Chris Leithner Book Reviews Money, banking and the business cycle Reviewed by Chris Leithner To make and keep peace: among ourselves and with all nations Reviewed by Sukrit Sabhlok
LARGE PRINT EDITION More at LargePrintLiberty.com Professor Block's book is in a new edition from the Mises Institute, completely reset and beautifully laid out in an edition worthy of its contents. It is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs. Murray Rothbard explains why: "Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory." F.A. Hayek agreed, writing the author as follows: "Looking through Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free market position. ... Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it. A real understanding of economics demands that one disabuses oneself of many dear prejudices and illusions. Popular fallacies in economics frequently express themselves in unfounded prejudices against other occupations, and showing the falsity of these stereotypes you are doing a real services, although you will not make yourself more popular with the majority.
Our seduction into beliefs in competition, scarcity, and acquisition are producing too many casualties. We need to depart a kingdom that creates isolation, polarized debate, an exhausted planet, and violence that comes with the will to empire. The abbreviation of this empire is called a consumer culture. We think the free market ideology that surrounds us is true and inevitable and represents progress. We are called to better adapt, be more agile, more lean, more schooled, more, more, more. Give it up. There is no such thing as customer satisfaction. We need a new narrative, a shift in our thinking and speaking. An Other Kingdom takes us out of a culture of addictive consumption into a place where life is ours to create together. This satisfying way depends upon a neighborly covenant—an agreement that we together, will better raise our children, be healthy, be connected, be safe, and provide a livelihood. The neighborly covenant has a different language than market-hype. It speaks instead in a sacred tongue. Authors Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann, and John McKnight invite you on a journey of departure from our consumer market culture, with its constellations of empire and control. Discover an alternative set of beliefs that have the capacity to evoke a culture where poverty, violence, and shrinking well-being are not inevitable—a culture in which the social order produces enough for all. They ask you to consider this other kingdom. To participate in this modern exodus towards a modern community. To awaken its beginnings are all around us. An Other Kingdom outlines this journey to construct a future outside the systems world of solutions.
This book offers a unique perspective on the State of Israel based on classical liberalism, both on a historical and theoretical level. Specifically, it makes a classical liberal and libertarian analysis based upon homesteading and private property rights to defend the State of Israel. As such, this work explores the history of the Jewish State, both to provide a positive case for its right to exist, and to clarify the myths surrounding its origin and development. At the same time, it deals with other relevant related subjects, such as the complex situation between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, the military campaigns against the Jewish State, the connection between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and Israel’s economic miracle. The thorough analysis presented in this work intends to show not only why the voices and movements against Israel are wrong (including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, BDS), but more importantly, why Israel is an example of human flourishing and freedom that every advocate for liberty should celebrate. The Classical Liberal Case for Israel makes the practical and moral case for Israel. It is based on truths and facts that need to be repeated over and over. Block & Futerman understand that the only way to defeat a big lie is with a big truth. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel Classical Liberalism, often associated with the spread West from Northern Europe in creating free nations, is argued here as applying to Israel, with ancient roots in the principles of human freedom. Vernon L. Smith, Ph.D. Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (2002), and Professor, George L. Argyros Endowed Chair in Finance and Economics, Professor of Economics and Law, Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, at Chapman University.
This textbook is based upon a philosophical method of logical deduction from basic principles such as scarcity, individual choice and subjectivism. This textbook attempts to show that all complex phenomena of economic theory such as prices of consumer goods and factors of production, saving and consumption, interest and profit, can be explained by the same primitive psychological principles of scarcity and substitution on the margin that could be used to describe economizing Robinson Crusoe on a desert island or two cavemen catching fish or exchanging apples for oranges. This textbook distils the essence of economic science prevailing in price theory before the 1930s, which the authors’ argue is superior to currently popular mainstream theory into a readable and student-friendly textbook format. This is an introductory textbook written in the tradition of Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, Mises and Hayek, instead in the tradition of Alfred Marshall and John Maynard Keynes, as almost all modern textbooks are. The authors offer a text not predicated on physics envy; on an attempt to liken economics to the physical sciences, on the basis of “empirical evidence”, statistics and verification.
A collection of eleven wonderfully imaginative tales that both chill the spine and warm the heart. Each tale features a thick fog, a thick book, and a thick steak.
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