Abstract
The arguments presented by Fred M. Frohock and David J. Sylvan in ‘Liberty, Economics and Evidence’, Political Studies, 31 (1983), 541–55 need reconsideration. They attribute a theory of economic development to liberalism, but it is held by both liberal and other thinkers only after the late eighteenth century. This theory, that a certain level of economic development is a necessary prerequisite for freedom, is different from the widely-held anti-democratic view that political rights should only be granted to persons holding property. Again, the view that liberty and welfare can be traded-off seems not to be held by many of the ‘liberals' mentioned by the authors. Moreover, the contention that the ‘liberal position’ is empirically incorrect confuses two propositions: (1) that there are economic conditions which are necessary for the existence of freedom; (2) that there are economic conditions necessary and sufficient for freedom. The authors' recommendation of ‘holism’ should not be swallowed whole.
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