—–Original Message—–
From: NS
Sent: Thu 11/17/2016 5:09 PM
To: Walter Block
Subject: Question about
Good afternoon, Professor Block.
I`ve got a couple of questions for you: The “market” for hired killers can be considered as a real market? What could be the Austrian position on this? Thank you so much.
Dear NS: Yes, this is a real market. It has a supply and demand curve set. They act indistinguishably from markets for apples or shoes. I just gave you the position of Austrian economists on this market, and, I think this would hold true for neoclassical economists as well. Remember, economics is a positive science. It asks, only, things like, how are prices formed, what will happen if a price ceiling or floor is imposed, etc. You might be interested in an entirely different question: what is the libertarian position on markets like this? My answer is, it all depends upon who the hired killers are going to murder. If they are going to assassinate bad guys like Hitler or Stalin, the libertarian would applaud. If they are going to murder innocent people, then the libertarian would object, since this would be in violation of the non-aggression principle, the very core of this philosophy.
2:25 pm on November 18, 2016 Email Walter E. Block
