The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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Homesteading City Streets: An Exercise in Managerial Theory 249 government supervision, and that we were now contemplating moving it from the socialism to capitalism. A whole host of questions would quickly arise, the answers to which would lie outside the realm of economics. For example, how many shoe firms would there be? What color would be the footwear? What proportion would there be between black, brown, white, tan and other color shoes? Between shoes, runners, sneakers, slippers? How many lace holes would there be in a shoe? Who would stitch together the shoe and its sole? How many shoe stores would be located on each block? Would there be one in every mall? How would the poor afford shoes? Would someone like Michael Jordan become a pitchman for the product? In like manner, it is difficult in the extreme to know, at this late date, the precise configurations of a private street and road industry, had one been allowed to be fully developed from day one. How much would the street vendors charge? Or would they provide road service for free, in a sort of super, loss leader ploy, and earn their income through billboard advertising, or enhancement of real estate values (some companies are now giving away computers, gratis, which come replete with advertisements)? How would we obviate the possibility of surrounding a property owner with private roads, so that he had no means of access or egress? I speculated that no one in his right mind would ever purchase a property without clearly delineated access rights, spelled out for the present and the future, but what, precisely, would be specified in contracts intended to obviate this difficulty? If road providers did charge for their services, I articulated a scenario whereby this would be done by placing universal product codes on the underbody of automobiles, so that their owners could be sent a monthly bill. This, of course, would set up privacy protection issues, which, in turn, have also been previously addressed. 14 The point is though, that even if a contrary-to-fact conditional society such as ours but with continuous private road ownership, 14 Block, “Free Market Transportation: Denationalizing the Roads.”
250 The Privatization of Roads and Highways did indeed address and solve problems of this sort in this manner, it would still be a Herculean job to convert our present society into that one. Even worse, we have only our managerialentrepreneurial speculation to buttress these suppositions, nothing more. On the other hand, we need not be too pessimistic about this either. An imperfect privatization will be far preferable to none at all. Government streets are an administrative and safety nightmare. 15 It is inconceivable that private initiatives could do worse. In any case, the same challenge faces the privatizer of all industries now in government hands. Even the post office and public education, the privatization of which are far easier on theoretical grounds (there are no linkages between them and virtually all other private property), present complicated problems of equity, transition, etc., as do streets. Ordinarily, under laissez-faire capitalism, the owner of a private enterprise could charge whatever price he wished for the goods or services he supplies. If you didn’t like the pricing or any other policy of McDonalds, you are free to patronize Burger King or Wendy’s, or any such other emporium, or buy your burgers from the supermarket and eat them at home. It would be a bit harsh, however, to allow the new private owners of the street to engage in such an exercise of “economic freedom.” This is because in the world where all streets were privatized from day one, no one would have ever built a home or a business without first contractually preventing the road owner from such unilateral behavior. Rather, there would have been an agreement preventing this, either through contract, or by making the home or business owner a partner in the street enterprise. Were we now to allow the new road owners to impose their unilateral decisions on travelers, this would in effect make a gift of the entire economic value to them, not only of the roads, but of virtually all 15 Road fatality statistics are as follows: In the year 2000, there were 41,804 motor vehicle deaths. See on this http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/acc-inj.htm; accessed on 7/18/02.
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The Privatization of Roads and High
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This book is dedicated to my fellow
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vi The Privatization of Roads and H
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viii The Privatization of Roads and
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x The Privatization of Roads and Hi
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Acknowledgments Iwould like to than
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Introduction Most people who read t
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Introduction xvii dealing with obje
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1 Free-Market Transportation: Denat
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Free-Market Transportation: Denatio
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48 The Privatization of Roads and H
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3 Public Goods and Externalities: T
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Public Goods and Externalities: The
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Part II Applications
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6 Road Socialism * What are the bes
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Road Socialism 185 of the state app
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Road Socialism 187 It is in order t
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Road Socialism 189 indicates that v
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Road Socialism 191 vehicle inspecti
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Road Socialism 193 that “The domi
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Road Socialism 195 imaginative and
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Road Socialism 197 2. Perhaps the p
Page 218 and 219: Road Socialism 199 bouncer, to each
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Page 244: The Motor Vehicle Bureau 225 In the
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Page 250 and 251: Privatize Public Highways 231 Thoma
Page 252 and 253: 11 Homesteading City Streets: An Ex
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Page 298 and 299: 13 Transition to Private Roads * Le
Page 300 and 301: Transition to Private Roads 281 pre
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Page 304 and 305: Transition to Private Roads 285 to
Page 306 and 307: Transition to Private Roads 287 But
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Page 310: Part IV Critiques
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15 Comment on “Roads, Bridges, Su
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Comment on “Roads, Bridges, Sunli
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16 Roads, Bridges, Sunlight, and Pr
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Roads, Bridges, Sunlight, and Priva
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17 Who is Responsible for Traffic D
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Who is Responsible for Traffic Deat
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20 Aiding and Abetting Road Sociali
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Aiding and Abetting Road Socialism
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Part V Conclusion
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APPENDIX I Annual U.S. Street & Hig
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Appendices 423 It cannot be denied
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