May, 2007

Why Classical Liberal “Liberty” Is Salient

by Daniel B. Klein

May 22nd, 2007

Classical liberal “liberty” is salient and cohesive because it has a hardy, tangible basis in ownership and consent. Yes, again, I know, there are holes and gray areas. But it is simple and plain to see that the minimum wage, drug prohibition, occupational licensing, etc., etc. initiate coercion and diminish this liberty. [...]

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The Centrality of Liberty

by Edward Glaeser

May 22nd, 2007

There are two good reasons that liberty should be central in any discussion of public policy. First, freedom is the best candidate available to be the central goal of social policy. Second, any sensible policy discussion recognizes that emphasizing liberty provides a needed safeguard against the excesses of government power. While a philosophical [...]

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Where’s the Nominalism?

by Liam Murphy

May 22nd, 2007

I doubt that Richard Epstein misunderstands the point I keep making, but he writes as if he does:
The proposition that each person is entitled to have the maximum liberty consistent with the like liberty of others is a position that only makes sense within the framework of the classical liberal system. The moment that [...]

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If We Must Have “Rights,” Don’t Forget the Subscripts

by Daniel B. Klein

May 22nd, 2007

If one says that the minimum wage is coercive, is one saying that the law violates the only true rights (e.g., freedom of contract)?
No.
But Liam continues to write as though someone in this exchange says “yes.”
If the law says employers may not pay less than $X, then, obviously, in one significant sense, employers [...]

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Classical Liberal “Liberty” and the Dangers of Indeterminacy

by Richard A. Epstein

May 21st, 2007

Liam once again raises the proposition that libertarians and classical liberals do not have any special claim to the use of the term “liberty,” but only can claim use of one peculiar sense of the term, which then has to do battle with others. I disagree with that position. The proposition that each [...]

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The Innocuous Indeterminacy of “Liberty”

by Liam Murphy

May 21st, 2007

My main point, that the concepts of coercion and liberty are indeterminate along politically significant fault-lines, seems innocuous enough; but it is not being received that way in this discussion. One wonders why this is, since this simple and hardly deep point is not in itself an objection to anyone’s political theory.
The [...]

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Extra-Legal Institutions and Classical Liberal “Liberty”

by Daniel B. Klein

May 18th, 2007

Liam writes:
The obvious substantive issue in dispute between libertarians and the rest of us … is the little matter of whether there are pre-institutional property rights …
Is Liam trying to boil it all down to one dichotomy, namely, either: (1) the governmental legal rules that actually exist, or (2) nonsense-upon-stilts (Jeremy Bentham’s epithet for natural [...]

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What We Mean by “Liberty” — and “Wealth”

by Richard A. Epstein

May 18th, 2007

Let me just make a few comments to the various objections that Liam Murphy has raised to the definitions of “liberty” in use in classical liberal theory. I do not think that the term “liberty” has the deep philosophical ambiguity that he attributes to it. A person does not become more free because he has [...]

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The Meanings of “Liberty”

by Liam Murphy

May 17th, 2007

I do agree with Daniel Klein that “semantics” is worth arguing about, but only in the sense that it’s good to know what people mean and it’s good to be on the lookout for conceptual sleights of hand.
There are at least three important notions of liberty (and it is liberty, I think, not [...]

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Strategies of Cooperation

by Richard A. Epstein

May 17th, 2007

I am pleased that Daniel Klein has added yet further wrinkles to our discussion, on which I shall comment briefly on two.
First, there is much truth in Paul Rubin’s provocative suggestion that ordinary individuals evolved in group settings that were not entirely congenial to markets. The point of this observation is that families are [...]

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Liberty and Semantics: Response to Murphy, Glaeser, and Epstein

by Daniel B. Klein

May 16th, 2007

I am grateful to Will Wilkinson, Brink Lindsey, and the Cato Institute for organizing this exchange on the semantics of liberty, or the distinction between voluntary and coercive action.
I think that, by and large, if our society were freer, we would have better housing, food, and healthcare.
But I feel sure that paramount in [...]

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Voluntary and Coercive Action: A Key Distinction in the Overall System of Liberty

by Richard A. Epstein

May 14th, 2007

In his reply, University of Chicago law and economics guru Richard A. Epstein attempts to lay out an account of “justified coercion.” Taking the minimum wage as an example, Epstein sets forth and then rejects several grounds on which the minimum wage may be seen as non-coercive. He then sets forth and rejects several arguments that might justify the coercion in economic regulations such as the minimum wage. According to Espstein, state coercion in support of market institutions “is justified because it expands the envelope for gains from trade through voluntary exchange.” In general, coercion may be justified when “it is to the long-term advantage of all,” but detailed and systematic analysis of particular institutions — such as the one Epstein provides for the minimum wage — is required to establish when this is, and is not, the case.

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Coercive Regulation and the Balance of Freedom

by Edward Glaeser

May 11th, 2007

Harvard economist Edward Glaeser agrees with Dan Klein that economic regulations, such as minimum wage laws, are coercive, and that this ought to give us pause. “For millenia, governments have abused their control over the tools of violence,” Glaeser writes. “The historical track record insists that we treat any governmental intervention warily.” However, that does not rule out coercion. “The ultimate job of the state is to increase the range of options available to its citizens,” Glaeser maintains, and well-targeted coercion can increase total freedom in this sense. “Certainly, redistribution reduces the freedom of the taxpayer but it increases the options of the recipient of governmental largesse,” Glaeser says. He goes on to argue that laws that restrict the liberty to contract, such as the minimum wage, generally are not freedom-enhancing overall and tempt government abuse.

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