The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Foreword xi
network management provider, would there be any possibility of
an electronic record of your whereabouts. And there would be a
market even for this—for example, many young, single women,
such as college students and young professionals, might desire
that someone, somehow can always find out where they are.
But all these issues are concerns of mere technology. New
products, services, and capabilities that flow from the digital revolution
can make our lives more convenient and comfortable, but
only if we’re allowed to use them. The most important point here
is that the facts of human life that recommend road privatization
have nothing to do with technology. They arise from human
nature—from the fact that we have unlimited needs and wants,
and prefer to act voluntarily and peaceably to pursue them. The
technology of the moment is irrelevant.
This is where Walter Block comes in. For the first time in one
volume, he elucidates the human and economic factors that show
that roads, and whatever parts of our lives depend on them, get
better with privatization—just as does every other product or
service you can name.
Mainstream economists have for generations voiced predictable
objections to road privatization, such as externalities
(e.g., pollution), eminent domain, and public safety. Walter
shows in this book that, regardless of technology, the best solutions
are possible, not to mention inevitable, only when property
is truly and securely private. Block’s unique contributions are his
explanations of the mechanisms by which secure private property
ownership ultimately solves pollution, safety, and other
problems better than any system involving “public” property.
The classical economic sleight-of-hand used by generations
of economists and government employees and agencies to justify
continued government control of roads is undone handily with
use of the right economic insights. Walter Block is today’s leader
in elucidating just those insights in just this context.
Brad Edmunds
Montgomery, Alabama