The Property-Owning
Democracy
Freedom and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century
Gavin Kerr
Ö Routledge Taylor & Francis Croup NEW YORK AND LONDON Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Three Traditions of Liberal Political Thought The Limitations of the Classical and Social Liberal Traditions 1 The Promise of Geo-Classical Liberalism 8
1 Classical Liberalism and the Idea of Market Freedom Introduction 22 Isaiah Berlin: Negative Liberty and the Idea of Market Freedom 25 Friedrich Hayek: Private Property and Market Freedom 38 Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Orthodox Market Freedom 48 Richard Epstein: Orthodox Market Freedom Explicitly but Inadequately Defended 52 Conclusion 55
2 Social Liberalism and the Rejection of Market Freedom Introduction 60 The 'New Liberalism' 62 Social Liberalism and the De-Prioritization of Market Freedom 76 The Social Liberal Rejection of the Very Idea of 'Market Freedom' 85 viii Contents 3 Geo-Libertarianism: The Prioritization of Unorthodox Market Freedom 94 Introduction 94 Classical Political Economy and the Idea of the Socialization of Rent 95 Geo-Libertarianism and Market Freedom 104 A Critical Assessment ofthe Geo-Classical Theory of Distribution 109 From Geo-Libertarianism to Geo-Liberalism 136
4 Justice as Fairness and the Priority of Substantive Opportun!ty 142 Introduction 142 Neo-Classical Liberalism, Economic Exceptionalism, and the Priority of Liberty 145 Growth, Opportunity, and Perfectionism 152 Constitutionalism, Indeterminacy, and Ideal Theory 160
5 Liberal Socialism and the Right to Private Property 170 Introduction 170 Liberal Socialism and the Right to Private Property 171 The Self-Limiting Character of the Right to Private Property 185 The Fragmentation of Property and the ldea of Quasi-Private Ownership 191
6 The Market Democratic Property-Owning Democracy 204 Introduction 204 Orthodox Laissez-Faire Capitalism versus the Market Democratic Property-Owning Democracy 205 Interventionist Alternatives to the Socialization of Rent 220 Money and Banking in a Market Democratic Society 236 Practical Implementation 240
Conclusion: The Socialization of Rent: An Idea Whose Time Has (Almost) Come? 255
Index 258