The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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An Interview with Walter Block 407 The one exception is that lawsuits for pollution would be much easier with private rather than public roads. No longer would you have to sue millions of separate auto owners. Now, you could sue one or just a few road owners for being bawdy houses, not of sex, but of aiding and encouraging pollution on their property, which then leaks out onto other people’s property. 1 QUESTION: Will there be a role for government in “urging” private property owners to sell their land to road construction companies? Building a large highway, for exampl, can be a daunting task. If property owners hold out and refuse to sell their property to a road company, the whole project could grind to a halt. Can government step in and encourage the sale—much the same as with the railroads of the 1800s using the government right of eminent domain? WALTER BLOCK: Eminent domain is totally and completely inconsistent with free enterprise and libertarianism. It amounts to no more and no less than land theft. The whole point of my (and my son’s) debate with Gordon Tullock was on this issue. He said that private road ownership would be impossible without eminent domain laws (expropriation as it is called in Canada), and I (we) denied this. In a nutshell, our argument was that it is possible to burrow under holdouts’ property or bridge over it, without violating their property rights. 2 QUESTION: In the United States, what bureaucratic encumbrances and agencies would stand in one’s way if they were to actually start a company that intended to purchase, own and control all roads and streets in an entire state? 1See on this the magnificent Murray N. Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty (Atlantic Hightlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1982). 2See also Walter Block and Richard Epstein, “Debate on Eminent Domain,” NYU Journal of Law & Liberty 1, no. 3 (2005): 1144–69. Listen to it at www.mises.org/multimedia/mp3/Block-Epstein.mp3.
408 The Privatization of Roads and Highways WALTER BLOCK: Zoning authorities; bureaucrats in charge of land use; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Department of Transportation; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. QUESTION: How would the private ownership of roads affect metropolitan commuters? Would the costs to use streets go up? Would congestion problems decrease, remain the same, or diminish? WALTER BLOCK: Road privatization would help everyone, except for bureaucrats, politicians, “civil servants” employed by present statist road managers, etc. I claim that the cost of street use would decrease. See the “rule of two” mentioned above. Congestion problems would decrease, as peak-load pricing (charging more during rush hours than at 3 a.m., which irons out the variations in demand during the day) would become the order of the day. Right now, the government engages in anti-peak-load pricing, which exacerbates the problem. They commonly sell monthly tickets to bridges, tunnels, etc. at a cheaper price per trip than otherwise. But who uses such tickets? Employees, not casual shoppers, visitors. And when do they use these tickets? Precisely during rush hours. Nor is this any accident. The principle holds true (congestion is a government failure) in many other cases too. Compare congestion during Christmas with the post office and private firms. The former tell you not to mail during the peak-load times; the latter roll up their sleeves, put on extra workers, and satisfy consumers. QUESTION: How can you reconcile burrowing under someone’s property with such issues as mineral rights? At what point above and below do property rights stop? WALTER BLOCK: There are two theories on this. The first, the erroneous one, is called the ad coelum doctrine. Here, if you own an acre of land on the surface of the planet, you own territory right down to the center of the earth, in narrowing circles; e.g., your property comes to a point there (along with everyone else’s). In effect, you own a cone (think ice cream cone) of land,
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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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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
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Road Socialism 199 bouncer, to each
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7 Compromising the Uncompromisable:
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Compromising the Uncompromisable: S
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8 Roads and the Immigration Issue T
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Roads and the Immigration Issue 217
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9 The Motor Vehicle Bureau Newly ar
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The Motor Vehicle Bureau 225 In the
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10 Privatize Public Highways * Acro
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Privatize Public Highways 231 Thoma
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11 Homesteading City Streets: An Ex
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Homesteading City Streets: An Exerc
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13 Transition to Private Roads * Le
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Transition to Private Roads 281 pre
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Transition to Private Roads 283 Blo
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Transition to Private Roads 285 to
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Transition to Private Roads 287 But
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Transition to Private Roads 289 The
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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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