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NATURALLY_FORCED
April 29, 2001
Rev: November 12, 2004
Libertarians tend to
think of The Market
as a force of nature.
They think of "market forces"
as being the natural way of
the world, and take government But much of the
"intervention" as artificial, "rule of law"
and usually, if not always, it required for As is the defense of
is undesirable. markets to work borders required for
has clearly been legal stability.
"Let the Market a form of
decide". government
intervention.
But the market is just
us, it's just the sum
total of what we've all
decided to do Consider
"intellectual Almost entirely
A democracy of sorts, property". a legal fabrication.
with votes weighted To the extent that
according to personal it exists at all.
wealth. Consider
land. Why does Copyrights and
There's no reason to any one person patents are
assume that "the market" "own" a plot of more like
has decided correctly, land, when if temporary
and there's no reason you trace it's partial
to assume that the history back monopolies
choices we've made far enough granted by the
will stay the same. you'll find a government for
non-legal grab? limited time
The decisions of periods.
the market have
little moral Not exactly
force behind "property".
them... they are
not binding on PROPPED_UP
the future.
You can't forestall
discussion by just
saying "let the market
decide". We are the Ronald Coase may have
market, and the shown that efficiency
discussion is part of and fairness are
how we decide. unconnected:
For economic efficiency, it
doesn't matter who originally
owns a resource, since it will
be traded to whoever needs it.
But that by itself is never
The libertarian argument that going to be a satisfactory
individuals can and should be justification for any given
free to look out for their act of privatization.
own interests is fairly easy
to make. ("Well *someone* has
to own it, why
The objectivist case that *shouldn't* the
individuals must restrict mayor sell it off
themselves to "self-interest" cheap to his friends?")
is much weaker
The people who claim to
believe in "selfishness"
as an ideal all seem to
envision a very
far-sighted kind of
selfishness and a very E.g. parents
expansive definition of protecting children
the self. gets regarded as
"self"-interest
rather than some KIDS
form of altruism.
Why the hostile attitude
toward consumer boycotts?
Even, if you're just
interested in quality of
goods, I would think it This can actually
would make some sense to be easier to
inquire about working learn about than Some aspects of
conditions, on the product quality... product quality
theory that happier require a long trial
employees will do a period to determine
better job. directly. How do you
know about the
Maybe calls for durability of a new
boycott and protest product?
are being ignored
because of a feeling One more time: And even with an
that "wolf" has been a need for established product,
cried too many times? independent, how do you know that
objective they haven't just
But a lot of it has review... recently instituted
to do with a desire cost-cutting
for simplicity. measures that have
effected product
It's hard to envision a quality?
world where the ethical
province of every dollar This is one of many
you touch is kept track of. reasons "popularity"
is a poor guide to
product quality: even
if it *once* was a
good product, all may
have changed except
the label.
Hard, but not quite
impossible.
The Roman proverb goes:
"Money doesn't stink"
Can we design a money
that holds odors?
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