FROM FREE RIDING TO RENT SEEKING TO ANARCHY
People form governments to suppress the high transaction costs of criminal, unethical, and immoral behavior. The consequence is that all that suppressed free riding is simply converted into rent seeking by the bureaucracy. By forming governments, we trade high transaction costs that are pervasive (rampant criminal, unethical and immoral behavior) for low transaction costs that are increasingly expensive (conspiratorial, corrupt and exploitative behavior).
The question we face in advancing political theory, is how to prevent rent seeking as well as free riding.
The answer is to allow insurance companies, the common law, the courts, and a fully articulated set of property rights to do their jobs for us.
Yes, there are certain luxuries we may wish to produce as a commons. There is no reason that we cannot produce luxuries as a commons.
But we cannot produce laws. We can only allow the courts to discover them.
One response to “From Free-Riding To Rent Seeking To Anarchy”
SMART
–“Most opinions we find stupid or insane are usually just the result of the opinion-holder discounting the value of a cost we find to be expensive. I need to remember this before I start hating on people for their stupid, insane beliefs.”–
Stephanie McPeak Herman
Like · · Promote · Share
David W Grigsby, Stuart Schwartz and 2 others like this.
Aaron Kahland
I think it is even more likely that the costs have not been envisioned let alone discounted by the opinion holder.
April 4 at 2:42pm · Unlike · 1
Curt Doolittle oooh…. Aaron hits on the central issue!!
a) all emotions are reactions to changes in state.
b) changes in state are pre-rational (intuitive)
c) state changes consists consist of what what we term ‘property’
d) evolution did not require our rational understanding of changes in state. Only our emotional reactions to it.
e) Property is intuitive and pre-cognitive.
f) The mind is a difference engine.
g) Our emotions are caused largely by differences in property.
h) Where property is that which we have acted to obtain.
April 4 at 3:52pm · Like · 1
Carolynn Smith
How sweet.
April 4 at 5:12pm · Unlike · 1
Stephanie McPeak Herman
Failing to recognize a cost is really just the largest discount you can apply. And, I like the idea that emotion comes out of ownership change-states. For me, the second-most physically intense emotion is love, but the first is jealousy. My conservative friends always wonder how a good libertarian like me can get jealous (seems too rule-based to them), but the presupposition of property pretty much guarantees the existence of jealousy. What I won’t do is try to *force* someone to be faithful. But I’ll do everything I can to attract faithfulness. Uh oh… I’m rambling.
April 4 at 6:10pm · Unlike · 1
Stephanie McPeak Herman
Christine – this correlates to what we were talking about earlier today. It also correlates to a conversation I had with Jeannine and Jimmie about ranking the value of emotions, which is really just defining your costs and benefits. That was good advice, Jimmie, because I think the way we short-change ourselves the most is when we discount our OWN costs, and then wonder why we’re unhappy.
April 4 at 6:16pm · Unlike · 1
Curt Doolittle
MORE SMARTNESS
—“Failing to recognize a cost is really just the largest discount you can apply”—
—” the way we short-change ourselves the most is when we discount our OWN costs, and then wonder why we’re unhappy.”—
—“the presupposition of property pretty much guarantees the existence of jealousy. What I won’t do is try to *force* someone to be faithful. But I’ll do everything I can to attract faithfulness.”—
Stephanie McPeak Herman
April 4 at 7:16pm · Like
Stephanie McPeak Herman I like you Curt Doolittle!
April 4 at 7:28pm · Unlike · 1
Curt Doolittle (a)Feeling is mutual. (b)I have plenty of time to change your mind. lol
Cheers
April 4 at 7:32pm · Like · 1
Emily Johnson
And yet the idea that there is some absolute state of stupid just *feels* so right.