Thursday, February 4, 2010
Arnold Kling Makes Me Chuckle
In a quite reasonable post, he offers this judgment which struck me as ironic:
3. Does the state have necessary functions?In case you don't see the irony, try this.
I believe that it does, but I am not sure. I am strongly inclined to believe that unless we agree to have an ultimate arbiter of disputes, the equilibrium is what North, Weingast, and Wallis call "the natural state," in which a coalition of violent gangs extorts from the general public and shares the loot.
Comments:
I'm not sure which is more frustrating and disheartening about that NYT editorial; the article itself or the laughable commentary that follows it.
Doesn't the existence of a State (which is pretty much what he describes) add credibility to his view that such is the 'natural equilibrium'? Not that I think a State is 'necessary', but perhaps it is inevitable.
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