Econlib Resources
|
|
||||||||
|
|
Blogging software: Powered by Movable Type 4.2.1.
Pictures courtesy of the authors. All opinions expressed on EconLog reflect those of the author or individual commenters, and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of the Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib) website or its owner, Liberty Fund, Inc.
The cuneiform inscription in the Liberty Fund logo is the
earliest-known written appearance of the word
"freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It
is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.
|
||||||||
Bad analogy. Arnold's premise regards equivalent public and private policies. In this case, the proper comparison is not between private policies that prevent undesirable people from marrying and public policies that prevent prevent desirable people form marrying, but between public and private policies that both prevent undesirable people from marrying:
In Libertopia, you are an undesirable potential spouse, and so no one will marry you. So, you move to Paterfascista, only to discover that there, the state deems you unsuitable spouse material, and will not let you get married, even if you could find a willing partner.
Now, if Paterfascista's Bureau of Births, Deaths, and Everything in Between has an infallible oracle for predicting nuptial viability, from one point of view, knowing you are completely unsuitable for marriage saves you a lot of time, money, and emotional energy. You simply know that it's not even worth trying. And since no one is willing to marry you anyway, it's hard to say which of your rights are being infringed upon.
The trouble is that no such oracle exists. Someone who takes Hayek very seriously might say that it is impossible for such an oracle to exist, but even without believing such a theory, we can say that empirically, governmental planning has fallen far short of oracular performance. Therefore, the Paterfascista nuptial policy will inevitably, at the margin, prevent some people who could have found willing partners from getting married.