31 Reckoning with Rothbard

Abstract

Murray Newton Rothbard (1926-1995), an economist by profession, was an active libertarian intellectual for almost fifty years, a voracious reader, prolific writer, charismatic speaker, irrepressible political activist, inspiration to myriad young libertarian scholars and activists, and one of the central figures in the libertarian movement. (1) Professionally, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1956, held a teaching appointment at New York Polytechnic Institute-Brooklyn from 1966 through 1986, was the S. J. Hall distinguished professor of economics at the University of Nevada--Las Vegas from 1985 until the time of his death in early 1995, and served as academic vice-president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute at Auburn University, Alabama, from 1982 also until his death. A seminal event in his intellectual life occurred in 1949, when he encountered Ludwig von Mises and his monumental work, Human Action. Rothbard attended all of von Mises's seminars at New York University, eventually becoming his intellectual successor (2) and popularizing Austrian economics in the United States. Most relevant to the task at hand, however, is that Rothbard was also the most voluminous critic of Henry George's single tax in the latter half of the twentieth century. (3) Rothbard and Georgism Georgists will be interested to know that Rothbard was a long-time friend and informal student of the prominent Georgist and individualist, Frank Chodorov, from whose book service he ordered George's The Science of Political Economy, and whose monthly Analysis broadsheet he read and admired. (4) As a result, Rothbard was thoroughly appreciative and complimentary of many of George's economic analyses, occasionally quoting them at length) It seems reasonable to ascribe his interest in the single tax to Chodorov and, indirectly, Albert Jay Nock, whose writings Rothbard also devoured, greatly admired, and recommended to others. (6) One cannot accuse Rothbard of not having given the land question much thought, for he not only wrote about it at length, but indicated that he puzzled over some perceived Georgist inanities. (7) All of which makes it a bit mysterious how he could have blundered so embarrassingly in his many published critical analyses of single-tax theory. (8) My first writings about Rothbard's views on the land question consisted of a straightforward critique of his most obvious errors, without any attempt at explanation. (9) But now a fuller survey of his writings has made an in-depth explanation possible. In addition, his posthumously published works contain more polished arguments and avoid his earlier, obvious errors. This essay will therefore eschew facile criticism, and instead address Rothbard's strongest points and mature, integrated position, highlighting his errors and differences with George, as well as George's own main error. Rothbard's Anarcho-Capitalist World View Rothbard viewed all taxation as theft, and all forms of government, being funded by taxation, as coercive. He was convinced that government could do no net good, and was an unnecessary intrusion of force into the marketplace, which could provide for all human needs, including defense and law enforcement. (10) Regarding land, he believed that 1) justice consists of the first user of a parcel being its first owner, with the parcel subsequently being treated as purely private property, 2) speculation is beneficial, 3) parcels would never be withheld from use unless such use was unwarranted economically, and 4) owners and speculators earn everything they make, benefitting from unearned increments no more than anyone else in society. Consequently, he viewed the single tax not as ground rent collection, but as a tax like any other, and thus both harmful and unnecessary. Main Disagreements Where George Erred First of all must be mentioned the only departure from justice in George's version of the single tax, because it contributed to Rothbard's faulty understanding. …