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Date: | Tue Oct 3 10:43:09 2006 |
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> The thought has crossed my mind that for anarchists
> the equivalent word for "spontaneous order" would
> be anarchy. (but not the mask thereof)
> Nicholas J. Theocarakis
True for anarchists, but the spontaneous order
could also occur in a pure free market under
a government limited to the protection against
force and fraud. Ludwig von Mises in his work
Socialism (1922) argued that only in an unhampered
market could there be efficient economic
calculation. Key to the Mises argument is that
socialism could succeed in a stationary economy,
but it is precisely the constantly changing
variables in the real world that make
global socialism ineffective, as market
prices and profits provide the knowledge
that is otherwise unavailable to central
planners. But Mises in that work stated
that this would be within a government that
provided a legal and protective infrastructure.
A full spontaneous order requires either
an anarchy that provides security from
voluntary association, or else a strictly limited
though imposed government. Thus, anarchists
may think that voluntary association is more
likely, desirable, or effective than an
imposed limited government, but should not
leap to the conclusion that ONLY anarchy
would provide a spontaneous order.
It is indeed even possible to have an anarchist
voluntary assocation that is large and highly
restrictive, so that even though everybody
in the system favors it, the rules
in effect create central planning and stifle
spontaneous dynamics.
Fred Foldvary
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