Public Goods: An Appetite That Feeds on Itself

Why is the demand for government spending almost insatiable? Anthony de Jasay argues that democratic governments have a natural tendency to give way to the demands of interest groups for more state spending.     

The Ethics and Mechanics of Social Democracy or Having it Both Ways

Why is the West in‘becalmed stagnaion’— unable to overcome the obstacles to economic liberalisation? Has the social democratic dream turned sour? The electoral success of social democratic policies can be explained in its offer to let taxpayers have their cake and eat it, argues Anthony de Jasay, a former Oxford don and author of The State. He examines the potential domage to individual thrift, ambition and responsibility that such mistaken doctrines can induce.     

Violence: the disease and the vaccine

With the rise of political correctness has come a condemnation of all violence. Individuals have been discouraged from deterring violence by threatening violence. Thus society's spontaneous reactions to violent attacks on the civil order have been repressed and official law enforcement is unable to cope with the consequences.     

YOUR DOG OWNS YOUR HOUSE1

If your dog guards your house, a widely held ethical theory of redistribution would contend that he is entitled to own part of it. Each contribution to a product justifies a claim to a share of it. In fact, the social product is produced by society as a whole and society may distribute it as it sees fit. The article argues that this reasoning is confused and misunderstands the function of contracts of exchange.     

INSPECTING THE FOUNDATIONS OF LIBERALISM

Liberal justice is rooted in a system of conventions. They arise spontaneously as behavioural equilibria that bring mutual advantage to those adopting them. They protect life, limb, property and the pursuit of peaceful purposes, and require the fulfilment of reciprocal promises. Collective choice, where some impose choices on others who submit, violates liberal justice and reduces the set of freedoms. Liberalism and democracy are incompatible as organising principles and 'liberal democracy' is a contradiction in terms.     

PIOUS LIES: THE JUSTIFICATION OF STATES AND WELFARE STATES

Institutions, customs, laws are often, and sometimes implausibly, credited with efficiency. They serve a good purpose and if they had not arisen, we would have invented them. The claim is reassuring, though it may be no more than a pious lie. The creation of the state by social contract, and the adoption of supposedly rational customs by primitive peoples, serve as examples. Interpreting the welfare state as a mutual insurance scheme from which all can expect to profit is a classic of the kind.     

MORE NONSENSE ON STILTS: MR BENTHAM IS AT IT AGAIN

Lord Layard recently suggested in a series of lectures at the LSE that economists should be concerned with developing policies to maximise human happiness. His bold resurrection of the Benthamite school invites the most forceful criticism that can be levelled against naïve utilitarianism.