[799] in libertarians
Laissez Faire Book News: Epstein's FORBIDDEN GROUNDS
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Wed Mar 8 14:18:10 1995
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 14:12:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
Explosive attack on anti-discrimination laws
FORBIDDEN GROUNDS
The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws
by Richard Epstein
(reviewed by Jim Powell)
As University of Chicago legal scholar Richard Epstein demonstrates
in the new paperback edition of *Forbidden Grounds*, government
police power is the principal source of persistent, irrational
discrimination among people.
* During the late 19th century, for instance, Southern "Jim Crow"
laws started forcing private railroads to practice racial segregation.
* In the 1930s, collective bargaining laws gave unions monopoly
power to determine workplace terms--and invalidate privately-
negotiated contracts. White-controlled unions used their New Deal
powers to squeeze black workers out of countless positions.
By contrast, Epstein explains why irrational discrimination tends to
dissolve in competitive markets. Indeed, he goes on to show why
victims of discrimination have traditionally found refuge where
freedom of contract prevailed.
Epstein shows that government interference in the marketplace
invariably harms minorities. For example, he makes clear why laws
restricting freedom of contract have made both blacks and whites
worse off... how politically powerful interests have used zoning laws
to keep blacks in their place... why collective bargaining laws restrict
job opportunities for blacks... why anti-discrimination laws
exacerbate the black unemployment situation... why, in general, the
expansion of government police power poses the greatest threat to
minorities.
Epstein demonstrates how anti-discrimination laws in particular have
backfired badly against minorities... why laws outlawing sex
discrimination have jeopardized job opportunities without achieving
clearcut gains for women... why laws interfering with private pension
policies have backfired... why age discrimination laws destroy jobs
for senior citizens... why affirmative action laws have led to a new era
of irrational discrimination.
Anti-discrimination laws are making life more difficult for all of us,
so it's important that you understand the complex issues. Epstein, at
the peak of his career, has done a tremendous job defending freedom
of contract anew.
"This book is as urgently needed as it is brilliantly conceived and
courageously written. It should be one of the landmark books of our
time." --Thomas Sowell, author of *Race and Culture*
"*Forbidden Grounds* brings one of the country's finest legal minds to
one of its most emotion-laden issues, and the result is magnificent--in
depth of scholarship, precision of argument, and coherence of
perspective. Epstein is at once brilliant and wise." --Charles Murray,
co-author of *The Bell Curve*
"Richard Epstein is one of the most brilliant and controversial legal
scholars of the day, and, as his earlier work has shown, he is
fearlessly willing to challenge the accepted wisdom whenever he
thinks it has gone wrong. *Forbidden Grounds* is the most
comprehensive and broad-ranging scholarly treatment of the entire
range of anti-discrimination laws that has ever been written. It
skillfully combines doctrinal, historical, philosophical and economic
argumentation to advocate that all of the existing anti-discrimination
laws should be repealed." --John J. Donohue III, Northwestern
University School of Law
"Anyone seriously interested in anti-discrimination laws... ought to
read Epstein's book, and I predict most such people will."
--Steven Shavell, Harvard Law School
Book No. LL6177 (paperback) 530p. publisher's price $18.95
LAISSEZ FAIRE PRICE ONLY $16.95
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