[875] in libertarians
Laissez Faire Book News: Epstein's SIMPLE RULES
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Wed Apr 12 14:28:26 1995
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 14:24:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
Richard Epstein's long-awaited new book is now available. The first 300
readers who order it will receive an autographed copy. As always, you're
hearing about this first. --Chris
____________________________________________________________________
Distinguished law professor Richard Epstein's radical principles for
dismantling the welfare state and liberating people
SIMPLE RULES FOR A COMPLEX WORLD
by Richard A. Epstein
(reviewed by Jim Powell)
This book is a bombshell. While Congress considers tinkering with
Lyndon Johnson's Great Society giveaways and devolving school
lunch programs back to the states, University of Chicago
Distinguished Service Professor of Law Richard Epstein takes a giant
step to radicalize the debate. In his book bearing the prestigious
imprint of Harvard University Press, Epstein spells out an elegant
case for dismantling the welfare state. He goes after not only the
Great Society, but also Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, the so-called
Progressive Era and much more besides.
Epstein affirms that it is private enterprise, not government, which
makes a society harmonious and successful. The more complicated a
society becomes, the less government officials know about how
everything interacts, and the more laws backfire badly. Epstein
presents a compelling case that the fewer and simpler the laws, the
better.
He proposes a legal framework based on six principles--about as
stripped down a government as you will see, short of trashing it
altogether. His principles:
(1) individuals own themselves;
(2) individuals may appropriate unowned property, so virtually
everything ends up belonging to someone;
(3) individuals are free to make contracts with others;
(4) tort law provides remedies when individual rights are infringed, as
by fraud, theft, robbery, rape or murder;
(5) private property rights may be violated in a few cases of
overwhelming necessity such as to relieve starving people during a
famine;
(6) in all cases when government violates private property rights,
through regulation or outright seizure, government must pay the
owner just compensation.
Then Epstein shows how these six principles, alone or in
combination, cover the great bulk of disputes which arise--and why,
therefore, thousands of outrageously complex, costly, intrusive and
counterproductive laws should be scrapped.
His radicalism gains intellectual power as he tackles one category of
laws after another. He explains how the present morass of
environmental laws and regulations have resulted in consequences
which are the opposite of what was intended. Then he shows why
environmental laws often aren't even needed. He favors a market for
"pollution rights" which would help limit pollution while encouraging
technological improvements, unlike the EPA's discredited "command
and control" regulations.
Epstein tells how U.S. labor laws--including such sacred cows as the
Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act--
provoke bitter, violent disputes. He urges that such laws be repealed.
He makes clear how labor disputes can be resolved by applying his
principles.
Epstein covers the failure of product liability laws which have
increased the cost of many products and given companies strong
incentives to withdraw other useful products from the market. Epstein
talks about the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (1966)
which disrupted the auto industry but didn't have any apparent effect
on the death rate from auto accidents.
Epstein attacks laws which attempt to pin liability for every
imaginable loss on corporations. The ultimate consequence, he warns,
will be fewer corporations, smaller corporations and less
technological innovation which has contributed so much to improved
safety. He cites good reasons to believe his principles would produce
better results than current corporate laws.
Epstein expands his case against antidiscrimination laws, discussed at
length in a previous book, which require equal treatment of
employees involving very different costs. Such laws, he shows,
provides perverse incentives for employers to reduce the number of
jobs and harm the very people who are supposedly helped.
Epstein chronicles the futility of policies aimed at redistributing
income from rich to poor. For example, he tells why laws intended to
help the homeless have increased the number of homeless. He talks
about graduated tax rates which, promoted to "soak the rich," fail to
do that while limiting the amount of capital available for new jobs
desperately needed by the poor.
While Epstein doesn't categorically reject income redistribution, he
insists that the costs should be borne by all taxpayers. A small group
shouldn't be stuck with the costs. This is the case, for example, with
rent control laws which force landlords to subsidize tenants (rich and
poor alike) with below-market rents. Rent control laws, Epstein says,
effect a taking, and landlords are entitled to just compensation paid by
all taxpayers through government revenues. Requiring all taxpayers to
bear the costs of redistribution, he believes, will make them less likely
to pursue it.
Epstein notes that his six principles don't promote virtue as many
conservatives would like, but he says: "Law's stock in trade is the use
of collective might, and the sanctions that it imposes must be reserved
for the most serious social violations--which typically involve using
force and not keeping serious contractual engagements. A legal
system is not a complete social system, and we should not reflexively
invoke legal remedies to enforce whatever conduct we think to be
socially desirable."
Epstein's obvious intelligence, his honored position, the compelling
logic of his case and the reasonableness with which he presents it
seem sure to help this book become an enormously influential classic.
Don't miss it. The first 300 readers who order will get a copy
featuring a bookplate with Epstein's autograph.
Book No. LL6271 (hardcover) 350p. publisher's price $35.00
LAISSEZ FAIRE PRICE ONLY $24.95
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