Anarchism: Utopian vs. Practical

New Article – The Case Against Gun Control

Posted by Michael Wiebe at 6:14 pm 17 Responses »

Jan 272009

I’ve uploaded a new article – The Case Against Gun Control.

Here’s the abstract:

Gun control violates the right of individuals to control their own property. It also violates economic law. Enforcement of gun control creates incentives to produce guns on the black market. Gun control causes crime and corruption, whereas gun ownership actually deters crime, and is a check against tyrannical government. In a free society, weapons can be controlled through voluntary, peaceful means.

I wrote this after reading John Lott’s More Guns, Less Crime. I wasn’t impressed with his empirical approach, so my goal was to build a case against gun control based on economic principles and theoretical, a priori arguments.

New Article – The Case Against Drug Prohibition

Posted by Michael Wiebe at 11:49 am 3 Responses »

Jan 272009

I’ve uploaded another article – The Case Against Drug Prohibition.

Here’s the abstract:

Prohibition violates the right of individuals to control their own bodies, and violates economic law. Any increased enforcement of prohibition creates greater incentives to produce drugs. Prohibition causes crime and corruption. It increases the potency and reduces the quality of drugs, causing consumption-related deaths. The solution to drug abuse is not aggressive violence, but voluntary cooperation.

This article is primarily based on the arguments from Mark Thornton’s The Economics of Prohibition (PDF here). I was also inspired by Milton Friedman’s arguments in his interview on drugs. I think readers will be most surprised by the arguments that prohibition is self-defeating and increases the potency of drugs.

New Article – The Case for Free Trade

Posted by Michael Wiebe at 11:43 am No Responses »

Jan 272009

Here’s the first article from my new articles section – The Case for Free Trade.

Here’s the abstract:

Free trade is both morally and practically superior to protectionism. First, protectionism violates the right of individuals to engage in voluntary exchange. Second, specialization and trade are beneficial whenever there is absolute or comparative advantage between individuals. Finally, protectionism is a negative-sum game: it makes everyone worse off, including the “protected” industries.

For those readers familiar with the Paul Craig Roberts/capital mobility debate, I’d like to know what you think of my critique (in the “Objections” section).