BUILDING BLOCKS for Liberty
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Causes and Consequences of the Inflation Taxi
Causes and Consequences of the Inflation Taxi Abstract: While ethical implications of direct taxation systems have recently received renewed attention, a more veiled scheme remains unnoticed: the inflation tax. We overview the causes of inflation, and assess its consequences. Salient wealth redistributions are a defining feature of inflation, as savers and fixed income individuals see a relative wealth reduction. While evasion of this tax is difficult in many instances due to the primacy of money in a monetary economy, the tax codes of most developed countries allow avoidance techniques to be employed. We analyze the ways that inflation taxes may be avoided in an attempt to preserve personal wealth, as well as the consequences of such practices. 1 Causes and Consequences of the Inflation Tax Introduction Much recent literature focuses on the ethics of direct taxation (Joel Slemrod 2007; Bagus et al. 2011; Robert W. McGee 2012c). Whether income and consumption taxes are coercively imposed on both consumers and producers has long been contested. Being this as it may, taxes can be, and often are, remitted to the government voluntarily as if they were not reliant on their coercive imposition. In this case we are led to believe that there is no difference between taxation and voluntarily donations of money to the government –both will result in spending that is consistent with taxpayers’ desires. The curiosity that arises is that if people did not donate money voluntarily to the government, neither coercion nor taxation would be necessary.ii However, the degree of “voluntariness” of the governing process implementing taxation cannot affect the core nature of the problem (Robert McGee 1994). -
Chapter 4 Freedom and Progress
Chapter 4 Freedom and Progress The best road to progress is freedom’s road. John F. Kennedy The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impeded their efforts to obtain it. John Stuart Mill To cull the inestimable benefits assured by freedom of the press, it is necessary to put up with the inevitable evils springing therefrom. Alexis de Tocqueville Freedom is necessary to generate progress; people also value freedom as an important component of progress. This chapter will contend that both propositions are correct. Without liberty, there will be little or no progress; most people will consider an expansion in freedom as progress. Neither proposition would win universal acceptance. Some would argue that a totalitarian state can marshal the resources to generate economic growth. Many will contend that too much liberty induces libertine behavior and is destructive of society, peace, and the family. For better or worse, the record shows that freedom has increased throughout the world over the last few centuries and especially over the last few decades. There are of course many examples of non-free, totalitarian, ruthless government on the globe, but their number has decreased and now represents a smaller proportion of the world’s population. Perhaps this growth of freedom is partially responsible for the breakdown of the family and the rise in crime, described in the previous chapter. Dictators do tolerate less crime and are often very repressive of deviant sexual behavior, but, as the previous chapter reported, divorce and illegitimacy are more connected with improved income of women than with a permissive society. -
Economic Freedom” and Economic Growth: Questioning the Claim That Freer Markets Make Societies More Prosperous
Munich Personal RePEc Archive “Economic freedom” and economic growth: questioning the claim that freer markets make societies more prosperous Cohen, Joseph N City University of New York, Queens College 27 September 2011 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/33758/ MPRA Paper No. 33758, posted 27 Sep 2011 18:38 UTC “Economic Freedom” and Economic Growth: Questioning the Claim that Freer Markets Make Societies More Prosperous Joseph Nathan Cohen Department of Sociology City University of New York, Queens College 65-30 Kissena Blvd. Flushing, New York 11367 [email protected] Abstract A conventional reading of economic history implies that free market reforms rescued the world’s economies from stagnancy during the 1970s and 1980s. I reexamine a well-established econometric literature linking economic freedom to growth, and argue that their positive findings hinge on two problems: conceptual conflation and ahistoricity. When these criticisms are taken seriously, a very different view of the historical record emerges. There does not appear to be enduring relationship between economic liberalism and growth. Much of the observed relationship between these two variables involves a one-shot transition to freer markets around the Cold War’s end. Several concurrent changes took place in this historical context, and it is hasty to conclude that it was market liberalization alone that produced the economic turnaround of the 1990s and early-2000s. I also question market fundamentalists’ view that all forms of liberalization are helpful, arguing that the data show little to no benefit from reforms that did not attract foreign investment. Word Count: 6,698 (excl. -
Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism. -
Biographies BIOGRAPHIES 327
Biographies BIOGRAPHIES 327 ALDRICH, John Herbert Articles 1. “A method of scaling with applications to the 1968 and 1972 U.S. presidential elections.” American Political Born Science Review, 11(March):1977 (with Richard September 24, 1947, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA McKelvey). Current Position 2. “The dilemma of a paretian liberal: some consequences Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science, Duke of Sen’s theorem,” and “Liberal games: further thoughts University, Durham, North Carolina, 1997–. on social choice and game theory.” Public Choice, 30(Summer):1977. Degrees 3. “Electoral choice in 1972: a test of some theorems of B.A., Allegheny College, 1969; M.A., Ph.D., University of the spatial model of electoral competition.” Journal of Rochester, 1971, 1975. Mathematical Sociology, 5:1977. 4. “A dynamic model of presidential nomination Offices and Honors campaigns.” American Political Science Review, Co-Editor, American Journal of Political Science, 14(September):1980. 1985–1988 (with John L. Sullivan). 5. “A spatial model with party activists: implications for President, Southern Political Science Association, electoral dynamics,” and “rejoinder.” Public Choice, 1988–1989. 41:1983. Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral 6. “A downsian spatial model with party activism.” Sciences, 1989–1990. American Political Science Review, 17(December):1983. Fellow, Bellagio Center, 2002. 7. “Southern parties in state and nation.” Journal of Heinz Eulau Award (best article in the American Political Politics, August:2000. Science Review), 1990 (with Eugene Borgida and John L. 8. “Challenges to the American two-party system: Sullivan). evidence from the 1968, 1980, 1992, and 1996 presi- Gladys Kammerer Award (best book on U.S. -
Forestalling, Positive Obligations and the Lockean and Blockian Provisos: Rejoinder to Stephan Kinsella*
Ekonomia — Wroclaw Economic Review 22/3 (2016) Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis No 3732 DOI: 10.19195/2084-4093.22.3.2 Walter E. Block Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics [email protected] Joseph A. Butt S.J. College of Business Loyola University New Orleans Forestalling, Positive Obligations and the Lockean and Blockian Provisos: Rejoinder to Stephan Kinsella* JEL Classification: K19 Keywords: forestalling, positive obligations, Lockean proviso, Blockian proviso Abstract Forestalling, Positive Obligations and the Lockean and Blockian Provisos: Rejoinder to Stephan Kinsella The Blockian proviso mandates that no one precludes or forestalls anyone else in their land home- steading patterns such that they prevent them from homesteading virgin encircled land. Kinsella (2007, 2009A) takes issue with this position and likens it to the properly denigrated Lockean pro- viso. The present paper is an attempt to distinguish the two provisos one from the other, and defend the former from Kinsella’s critiques. What is the Lockean proviso? Let us allow “da man” to speak for himself on this issue. According to Locke (1689, emphasis added): “Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this nobody has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. -
Judith Jarvis Thomson on Abortion; a Libertarian Perspective
DePaul Journal of Health Care Law Volume 19 Issue 1 Fall 2017 Article 3 April 2018 Judith Jarvis Thomson on Abortion; a Libertarian Perspective Walter E. Block Loyola University New Orleans, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/jhcl Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Walter E. Block, Judith Jarvis Thomson on Abortion; a Libertarian Perspective, 19 DePaul J. Health Care L. (2018) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/jhcl/vol19/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Journal of Health Care Law by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Judith Jarvis Thomson on abortion; a libertarian perspective1 I. Introduction Abortion is one of the most vexing issues faced by society. On the one hand, there are those who favor the pro-choice position. In their view, the woman, and she alone (along with the advice of her doctor – but the final decision must be hers), should be able to legally determine on what basis, and whether, her pregnancy should be conducted. She should be as free to end her pregnancy at any stage of the development of her fetus, or give birth to it after the usual term of nine months. On the other hand, there are those who favor what is called the pro-life position. In this perspective, the fetus, from the moment of conception, is a full rights-bearing human being. -
Modeling Memes: a Memetic View of Affordance Learning
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Spring 2011 Modeling Memes: A Memetic View of Affordance Learning Benjamin D. Nye University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons, Cognition and Perception Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Other Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons, Social Psychology Commons, and the Statistical Models Commons Recommended Citation Nye, Benjamin D., "Modeling Memes: A Memetic View of Affordance Learning" (2011). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 336. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/336 With all thanks to my esteemed committee, Dr. Silverman, Dr. Smith, Dr. Carley, and Dr. Bordogna. Also, great thanks to the University of Pennsylvania for all the opportunities to perform research at such a revered institution. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/336 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modeling Memes: A Memetic View of Affordance Learning Abstract This research employed systems social science inquiry to build a synthesis model that would be useful for modeling meme evolution. First, a formal definition of memes was proposed that balanced both ontological adequacy and empirical observability. Based on this definition, a systems model for meme evolution was synthesized from Shannon Information Theory and elements of Bandura's Social Cognitive Learning Theory. Research in perception, social psychology, learning, and communication were incorporated to explain the cognitive and environmental processes guiding meme evolution. By extending the PMFServ cognitive architecture, socio-cognitive agents were created who could simulate social learning of Gibson affordances. -
A Response to the Libertarian Critics of Open-Borders Libertarianism
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW __________________________________ VOLUME 4 FALL 2016 ISSUE 1 ____________________________________ A RESPONSE TO THE LIBERTARIAN CRITICS OF OPEN-BORDERS LIBERTARIANISM Walter E. Block, Ph.D. Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business I. INTRODUCTION Libertarians may be unique in many regards, but their views on immigration do not qualify. They are as divided as is the rest of the population on this issue. Some favor open borders, and others oppose such a legal milieu. The present paper may be placed in the former category. It will outline both sides of this debate in sections II and III. Section IV is devoted to some additional arrows in the quiver of the closed border libertarians, and to a refutation of them. We conclude in section V. A RESPONSE TO THE LIBERTARIAN CRITICS OF OPEN-BORDERS LIBERTARIANISM 143 II. ANTI OPEN BORDERS The libertarian opposition to free immigration is straightforward and even elegant.1 It notes, first, a curious bifurcation in international economic relations. In the case of both trade and investment, there must necessarily be two2 parties who agree to the commercial interaction. In the former case, there must be an importer and an exporter; both are necessary. Without the consent of both parties, the transaction cannot take place. A similar situation arises concerning foreign investment. The entrepreneur who wishes to set up shop abroad must obtain the willing acquiescence of the domestic partner for the purchase of land and raw materials. And the same occurs with financial transactions that take place across 1 Peter Brimelow, ALIEN NATION: COMMON SENSE ABOUT AMERICA’S IMMIGRATION DISASTER (1995); Jesús Huerta De Soto, A Libertarian Theory of Free Immigration, 13 J. -
Private Property Rights, Economic Freedom, and Well Being
Working Paper 19 Private Property Rights, Economic Freedom, and Well Being * BENJAMIN POWELL * Benjamin Powell is a PhD Student at George Mason University and a Social Change Research Fellow with the Mercatus Center in Arlington, VA. He was an AIER Summer Fellow in 2002. The ideas presented in this research are the author’s and do not represent official positions of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Private Property Rights, Economic Freedom, and Well Being The question of why some countries are rich, and others are poor, is a question that has plagued economists at least since 1776, when Adam Smith wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Some countries that have a wealth of human and natural resources remain in poverty (in Sub-Saharan Africa for example) while other countries with few natural resources (like Hong Kong) flourish. An understanding of how private property and economic freedom allow people to coordinate their activities while engaging in trades that make them both people better off, gives us an indication of the institutional environment that is necessary for prosperity. Observation of the countries around the world also indicates that those countries with an institutional environment of secure property rights and highPAPER degrees of economic freedom have achieved higher levels of the various measures of human well being. Property Rights and Voluntary Interaction The freedom to exchange allows individuals to make trades that both parties believe will make them better off. Private property provides the incentives for individuals to economize on resource use because the user bears the costs of their actions. -
Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
SEPTEMBER 2009 Conflict is an inherent and legitimate part of social and political life, but in many places conflict turns violent, inflicting grave costs in terms of lost lives, degraded governance, and destroyed livelihoods. The costs and consequences of conflict, crisis, and state failure have become unacceptably high. Violent conflict dramatically disrupts traditional development and it can spill over FROM THE DIRECTOR borders and reduce growth and prosperity across entire regions. Religion is often viewed as a motive for conflict and has emerged as a key compo- nent in many current and past conflicts. However, religion does not always drive violence; it is also an integral factor in the peacebuilding and reconciliation process. Development assistance and programming does not always consider this link- age, nor does it fully address the complexity of the relationship between religion and conflict. As a main mobilizing force in many societies, proper engagement of religion and its leaders is crucial. This Toolkit is intended to help USAID staff and their implementing partners un- derstand the opportunities and challenges inherent to development programming in conflicts where religion is a key component. Like other guides in this series, this Toolkit discusses key issues that need to be considered when development as- sistance is provided in religious contexts and identifies lessons that been emerged from USAID’s experience implementing such programs. However compared to other types of programming, USAID experience engaging religion and religious actors to prevent conflict or build peace is modest. Thus, recognizing that there is still significantly more to be learned on this critical topic, this toolkit contains summaries of four actual USAID programs that have successfully engaged religious actors. -
Is Libertarian Anarchy Feasible?
No. 09-09 April 2009 WORKING PAPER IF A PURE MARKET ECONOMY IS SO GOOD, WHY DOESN’T IT EXIST? The Importance of Changing Preferences versus Incentives in Social Change By Edward P. Stringham and Jeffrey Rogers Hummel The ideas presented in this research are the authors’ and do not represent official positions of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. If a Pure Market Economy Is So Good, Why Doesn’t It Exist? The Importance of Changing Preferences Versus Incentives in Social Change EDWARD P. STRINGHAM and JEFFREY ROGERS HUMMEL* Shelby Cullom Davis Endowment, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106 Department of Economics, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192 [email protected]; 860-297-2437 [email protected]; 408-924-5418 Abstract Many economists argue that a pure market economy cannot come about because people will always have incentives to use coercion (Cowen and Sutter, 2005; Holcombe, 2004). We maintain that these economists leave out an important factor in social change. Change can come about by altering incentives or preferences, but since most economists ignore changing preferences, they too quickly conclude that change is impossible. History shows that social change based on changes in preferences is common. By recognizing that preferences need not be constant, political economists can say much more about changing the world. Keywords public opinion, public choice, anarchy, social change JEL Codes D78, H11, P11 * The authors thank Bryan Caplan, Christopher Coyne, Thomas DiLorenzo, David Henderson, the referees of this journal, and participants at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Templeton Culture of Enterprise Conference in Washington, D.C., the Property and Freedom Society Conference in Bodrum, Turkey, the Association of Private Enterprise Education conference in Las Vegas, and Libertas' Årlige Møde in Copenhagen, Denmark, for helpful comments and suggestions.