Radical Austrianism, Radical Libertarianism: A Steven Berger Seminar with Walter Block

The Latin root of radicalism is radix for “root,” and in this week-long Steve Berger Seminar, the roots and reach of both libertarian and Austrian theory are covered by a leading authority: Professor Walter Block of Loyola University, New Orleans. The economic theory is value free, deriving from relentless deductions from first axioms, but it takes flight when combined with a theory of natural rights in the Thomist-Rothbardian tradition. Professor Block is qualified to present the full package as you have never heard it; he is perhaps the most well published of any author writing within the Austro-libertarian tradition.

The seminar will consist of two primary lectures per day for five days, July 25-July 29, 2005, and discussion time with the professor.

Schedule (Central Time Zone)

Monday-Friday

9:30 a.m.

Shuttle departs Commons Dorm and AU Hotel for Mises Institute

• 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. - Lecture on Economics
• Noon - Lunch
• 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Lecture on Libertarianism
• 4:30 p.m. - Shuttle departs Institute for dorm and AU Hotel
• On Wednesday at 1:00pm, Mark Sunwall will lecture on Austrian anthropology. On Friday at 4:00 Cindy Sheehan will lecture on the Human Costs of War, followed by a closing pizza party at 5:00 p.m. with shuttle departing at 6:00 p.m.

Economics:

1. Free Trade
2. Minimum wage
3. Environmentalism
4. A Statistical Calculation of Economic Freedom
5. Monopoly and Anti-Trust, Monopsony

Libertarianism:

1. Introduction to Libertarianism I
2. Introduction to Libertarianism II
3. Ronald Coase, a Libertarian Critique
4. 9. Abortion
5. 10. Reparations

Readings, Economics:

1. Free Trade: Hazlitt, Henry. 1979. Economics in One Lesson, Arlington House Publishers, New York, ch. 11, 12; relevant chapter in Defending the Undefendable
2. Minimum Wage: Hazlitt, Henry. 1979. Economics in One Lesson, Arlington House Publishers, New York, ch. 18, 19; relevant chapter in Defending the Undefendable
3. Environmentalism: Rothbard, Murray N., “Law, Property Rights, and Air Pollution,” Cato Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring, 1982; reprinted in Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation, Walter Block, ed., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1990;
4. A Statistical Calculation of Economic Freedom: Gwartney, James, Robert Lawson and Walter Block. 1996. Economic Freedom of the World, 1975-1995 Vancouver, B.C. Canada: the Fraser Institute
5. Monopoly and Anti-Trust, Monopsony
6. Rothbard, Murray N. 1993. Man, Economy and State, Auburn AL: Mises Institute; ch 10
7. Anderson, William, Walter Block, Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Ilana Mercer, Leon Snyman and Christopher Westley. 2001. “The Microsoft Corporation in Collision with Antitrust Law,” The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1, Winter, pp. 287-302;
8. Block, Walter. 1994. “Total Repeal of Anti-trust Legislation: A Critique of Bork, Brozen and Posner,” Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 31-64.
9. Block, Walter. 1977. “Austrian Monopoly Theory — a Critique,” The Journal of Libertarian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Review, Vol. I, No. 4, fall, pp. 271-279;

Readings: Libertarianism:

1. Introduction to libertarianism I: Block, Walter. 1991 [1976]. Defending the Undefendable, New York: New York: Fox and Wilkes, first half of book
2. Introduction to Libertarianism II: Block, Walter. 1991 [1976]. Defending the Undefendable, New York: New York: Fox and Wilkes, second half of book
3. Ronald Coase, a Libertarian Critique:
4. Block, Walter. 2003. “Private property rights, economic freedom, and Professor Coase: A Critique of Friedman, McCloskey, Medema and Zorn,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol. 26, No. 3, Summer, pp. 923-951
   • Block, Walter. 2000. “Private Property Rights, Erroneous Interpretations, Morality and Economics: Reply to Demsetz,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring, pp. 63-78;
   • Block, Walter. 1996. “O.J.’s Defense: A Reductio Ad Absurdum of the Economics of Ronald Coase and Richard Posner,” European Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 265-286; Demsetz, Harold. 1979. “Ethics and Efficiency in Property Rights Systems,”  in Time, Uncertainty and Disequilibrium: Explorations of Austrian Themes, Mario Rizzo, ed., Lexington Mass.: D.C.Heath and Co.
   • Block, Walter. 1995. “Ethics, Efficiency, Coasean Property Rights and Psychic Income: A Reply to Demsetz,” Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 61-125;
   • Demsetz, Harold. 1997. “Block’s Erroneous Interpretations,” Review of Austrian Economics,Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 101-109;
   • Block, Walter. 1977. “Coase and Demsetz on Private Property Rights,” The Journal of Libertarian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Review, Vol. I, No. 2, Spring, pp. 111-115, ; reprint translation: “Coase y Demsetz sobre el derecho de propiedad privada,” Libertas 37, octubre de 2002, año XIX, pp. 5-20.
5. Abortion: Block, Walter and Roy Whitehead. 2005. “Compromising the Uncompromisable: A Private Property Rights Approach to Resolving the Abortion Controversy,” Appalachian Law Review, 4 (2) 1-45Block, Walter. 1978. “Abortion, Woman and Fetus: Rights in Conflict?” Reason, April, pp. 18-25.
6. Reparations: Block, Walter. 2002. “On Reparations to Blacks for Slavery,” Human Rights Review, Vol. 3, No. 4, July-September, pp. 53-73
7. Block, Walter and Guillermo Yeatts. 1999-2000. “The Economics and Ethics of Land Reform: A Critique of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace’s ‘Toward a Better Distribution of Land: The Challenge of Agrarian Reform,’” Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Law, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 37-69

The Seminar is open to full-time students (no charge for qualifying students), faculty, and current Members of the Mises Institute. Registration is $125 for Mises Institute Members and faculty, including daily boxed lunches and refreshment breaks, and the use of Mises Institute research libraries and computers. Dormitory rooms are available for $35 per person per night double-occupancy or $45 per night single-occupancy.

Students may apply for tuition scholarships