> 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