The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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An Interview with Walter Block 409 with the top, the acre on the surface of the earth, and the bottom point at its center. Also, your property extends into the heavens, in ever widening circles, again in a cone like formation. The problem with this, for the libertarian, who based property rights on the Locke-Rothbard-Hoppe theory of homesteading, is that you did nothing at all to mix your labor with the land 1,000 miles below the surface. As a practical matter, moreover, you would have the right to forbid airplanes from traveling over your acreage, even 30,000 feet above. Remember, according to this mischievous doctrine, your ownership extends from the core of the earth upward, to an indefinitely far distance. What this implies for ownership of other planets is just another reductio ad absurdum of this view. In the latter, correct homesteading view, you own only that which you mix your labor with. If you farm, you own only as far down as the roots of your plants; maybe just a few feet more, to preclude anyone from doing something under your land that disturbs your crops. Say, ten feet down or so, depending upon the texture of the earth. If you build a house, then your property extends in a downward direction only so far as to preclude anyone else from caving in your house from below; again, the exact distance would depend upon how firm is the earth below your foundation. If your house extends downward for fifty feet, you might own, say, to one hundred feet below. Merely farming or building a house, then, gives you no mineral rights whatsoever. Someone else could drill for oil, or mine tin, or whatever, five thousand feet below your property, if they were there first. Thus, there is no reason, in principle, that the hold out against the road developer could always preclude the latter from building a tunnel under, or a bridge over, this land. QUESTION: Would building a structure above someone’s land effectively covering their home be an invasion of their property rights? WALTER BLOCK: It depends upon how high above. Yes, it would or might well be an invasion if you built ten or one hundred
410 The Privatization of Roads and Highways feet above, but maybe not if you did so two hundred feet above, and almost certainly not if you did so four hundred feet above. QUESTION: Can you elaborate on the hypothetical road privatization of one or more municipalities in Saskatchewan. WALTER BLOCK: In rural Saskatchewan there is a good gravel road built to the doorstep of every farmhouse. Yet many highways are filled with potholes and are quite treacherous to travel. Currently, the municipalities create and upkeep local roads and the province does so for the highways. Municipal property taxes which pay for roads and schools among other things are too high for the liking of most land owners. Tax revolts have recently ignited in southern Saskatchewan by farmers who were simply too pinched to pay land taxes. One option to reduce taxes that has been suggested is for two or more municipal districts to combine and pool resources and share administration costs. This should, in theory, lower taxes. Another idea which I would like to promote is the privatization of all municipal services and the dismantling of this third level of government all together in rural areas. Why launch road privatization in rural Saskatchewan? Because you would have a far greater chance of influencing the opinions of a few hundred farmers of the privatization of a rural municipality than you would have of convincing city people that they could live without city hall. Farmers are already self-reliant. They snowplow their own roads for instance. And Saskatchewan, where the taxes are high and the rural voters are alienated by the urban/socialist dominated legislature, is a great place to harness discontent. QUESTION: So here are some questions these farmers will need answered before they would sign on to such an experiment in laissez-faire capitalism: If a company bought up and operated as a business all of the roads in one or more municipalities—how would they best collect revenue from the users of these roads? Note that in an area perhaps one hundred miles squared there may be a few hundred
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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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