The following queries have all been written to me by Nathan Fryzek, a former student of mine at Loyola University. The range from economic freedom, to free market think tanks, to outliers, to academic degrees, to child support, to cardinal utility, to whether teaching at West Point is legitimate for a libertarian, to the ideal tax, to interest rates, to deflation, to reincarnation, to which is my favorite country to live in, to Israeli politics.
They are followed by my responses to him.
1. Economic Freedom
On Fri, Apr 3, 2020 at 10:39 PM Nathan Fryzek wrote:
Dear Dr. Block,
The following organizations all rank countries by economic freedom, which ranking would you trust the most?
Heritage
Fraser
Cato
Libre
Thank you for your time and help,
Nathan Fryzek.
Dear Nathan:
Their results are all highly correlated with each other. So, I’d trust them all, equally. Except, I was one of the co authors of the first Fraser iteration, so I’m biased in its favor.
Gwartney, James, Robert Lawson and Walter E. Block. 1996. Economic Freedom of the World, 1975-1995 Vancouver, B.C. Canada: the Fraser Institute; reviews: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=195&hid=116&sid=781cb0b0-a517-47c5-9874-ee43ba5138d5%40sessionmgr3; www.freetheworld.com; http://www.fraserinstitute.org/researchandpublications/publications/7094.aspx
Best regards,
Walter
2. Academic degrees
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2020 8:20 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Quick Question
Dear Dr. Block,
Does everyone who has a PhD automatically have a masters degree? Do you technically have a masters degree from Columbia, but just don’t list it?
Thank you for your time and help,
Nathan Fryzek.
Dear Nathan:
No. I have no masters degree.
It is sort of like if you graduated from college, but not from high school, do you have a high school degree? The answer is, No, you don’t have a high school degree, just one from university.
Stay safe.
Best regards,
Walter
3. Child support
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2020 8:53 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Libertarian Question
Dear Dr. Block,
What is your libertarian analysis of mandatory, court imposed, child support?
Is it ever legitimate?
It seems reasonable that if two people are married and have a child together that the implicitly agreed to care for the child.
On the other hand, sometimes women get pregnant when they are not in a committed relationship.
Thank you for your time and help,
Nathan Fryzek.
From: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2020 5:26 PM
To: ‘Nathan Fryzek’ <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Libertarian Question
Dear Nathan:
I don’t think libertarianism is compatible with mandatory, court imposed, child support. I don’t see any implicit contract compelling parents to care for their kids.
However, in my work on this topic, I’ve come to the conclusion that if a parent doesn’t want to take care of a baby, he should be legally compelled to bring the baby to an orphanage or a hospital where other people will take care of the baby. Otherwise, he is guilty of owning the rights to the baby without homesteading them.
I’ve written about this on several occasions in my publications on abortion
Best regards,
Walter
4. Cardinal utility
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2020 11:20 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Measuring Utility
Dear Dr. Block,
In psychology we often have patients rank their depression from 1-10, or 1-4, depending on the form. Isn’t this an example that quantifying utility can be useful and legitimate?
Here is an example: https://www.mdcalc.com/phq-9-patient-health-questionnaire-9
Thank you for your time and help,
Nathan Fryzek.
PS – Someday when I make a personal library I’d like to collect all of your publications. Are any of your books out of print? Is there any of your writing that isn’t published?
Dear Nathan:
Those quantifications are fine. They are sort of like complacent, 1, happy, 2, ecstatic, 3. But happy isn’t twice as good as complacent, and ecstatic isn’t three times better.
Most of my writing eventually gets published. One of these days I’m gonna work on my web page.
Best regards,
Walter
5. Outlier
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2020 7:58 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Definition of Outliers
Dear Dr. Block,
What is the usual definition of an outlier in economics?
Thank you for your time and help,
Nathan Fryzek.
Dear Nathan:
Outlier is the same in econ as it is in anything else: different than all the others
Best regards,
Walter
6. Teach at West Point?
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2020 8:14 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Hypothetical
Dear Dr. Block,
If you graduated with your PhD and the only university hiring was West Point or some other military academy, would you have taught there?
Nathan Fryzek.
Dear Nathan:
Yes. I taught at several public universities in my career, SUNY Stony Brook, Baruch College, Rutgers Newark, U of Central Arkansas, and several quasi public ones: Holy Cross, and now, Loyola.
I see no big difference between those and West Point, Annapolis, etc.
My friend Richard Ebeling now teaches at the Citadel, and I assume he’s doing there, roughly what I always try to do: promoting good economics, free enterprise, and private property rights.
Best regards,
Walter
7. Inflation
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 10:50 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Hypothetical
Dear Dr. Block,
If you were made chairman of the Federal Reserve, but the only power you had was to set a price inflation rate for the next N years, what rate would you choose?
Thank you,
Nathan Fryzek.
On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 9:25 AM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Nathan:
I am widely known, at least in my own mind, as Walter Moderate Block. But, here, I wouldn’t be moderate. If I wanted to ruin the fed, I’d go for hyperinflation. The cure might be worse than the disease, I’m not sure. On the other hand, if I wanted to do a “good” job, I’d aim either at zero, or, at a slight deflation.
Best regards,
Walter
8. Taxation
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2020 6:46 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hypothetical
Which tax is least bad? If you had to tax X amount of dollars per year how would you do it?
Income tax?
Sales tax?
Property tax?
Wealth tax?
Etc.
Dear Nathan:
Poll tax or head tax. Everyone pays the same amount. This was Murray Rothbard’s favorite tax. Not that he actually favored it. It violates the NAP. But, if he had to choose any one tax, he’d chose this one, as the least harmful.
9. Deflation
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2020 2:59 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hypothetical
Why would you consider a slight deflation? What rate?
On Thu, Apr 30, 2020 at 3:00 PM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Nathan:
Here are some readings in defense of deflation:
Bagus, 2003, 2006, 2008A, 2008B; Barnett and Block, 2006, 2008; Hulsmann, 2008; Kaza, 2006; Reisman, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2007; Rockwell, 2003; Rothbard, 1976, 1991; Salerno, 2003, 2004; Selgin, 1997.
Bagus, Philipp. 2003. “Deflation? When Austrians Become Interventionists.” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. Vol. 6, No. 4, Winter, pp. 19-35
http://www.mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae6_4_3.pdf
Bagus, Philipp. 2006. “Five Common Errors about Deflation.” /Procesos de Mercado: Revista Europea de Economía Política/, 3 (1): 105-23.
Bagus, Philipp. 2008A. “Monetary Reform and Deflation – A Critique of Mises, Rothbard, Huerta de Soto and Sennholz.” /New Perspectives on Political Economy,/ 4 (2): 131-157.
Bagus, Philipp. 2008B. “Deflation, Growth and the Quality of Money – a revealing Chapter of Monetary History from 1865 to 1896” /German Review of New Austrian Economics/. 2 (2). http://www.lvmf.de/publications/german-review-of-new-austrian-
economics/2008_GRAE_Nr_1_Bagus_Ph_Deflation%20growth%20and%20the%20quality
%20of%20money.pdf/view
Barnett, William II and Walter E. Block. 2006. “Some Thoughts on Price Deflation.” New Perspectives on Political Economy. Vol. 2, No. 1, June; pp. 1-12; http://pcpe.libinst.cz/nppe/index.php; http://pcpe.libinst.cz/nppe/2_1/nppe2_1_1.pdf
Barnett, William and Walter E. Block. 2008. “Plain Old Inflation vs. Price Inflation” Franklin Business & Law Journal; Issue 3, pp. 139-xx; http://www.franklinpublishing.net/franklinbusinesslaw.html
Hulsmann, Jorg Guido. 2008. Deflation and Liberty
http://mises.org/books/deflationandliberty.pdf
Kaza, Greg. 2006. “Deflation and Economic Growth.” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 95-98
http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae9_2_5.pdf
Reisman, George. 1996.Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics (Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books), pp. 511-517, 519-527, 544-546, 557-559, 573-580, 588, 809-820, 889, 922, 938-941, and 955-956; http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism/CAPITALISM_Internet.pdf.)
Reisman, George. 2000. “The Goal of Monetary Reform” THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS VOL. 3, NO. 3 (FALL): 3–18; http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae3_3_1.pdf.
Reisman, George. 2003. “The Anatomy of Deflation,” Daily Article, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn Alabama, August 18, http://mises.org/story/1298
Reisman, George. 2007. “Deflation and the Gold Standard,” George Reisman’s Blog on Economics, Politics, Society, and Culture, November 5; http://georgereisman.com/blog/2007/11/deflation-and-gold-standard.html
Rockwell, Llewellyn H. 2003. “Deflation: Hurrah!” The Free Market. Auburn, AL: The Ludwig von Mises Institute, Vol. 23, No. 8, August. http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=451&sortorder=articledate
Rothbard, Murray N. 1976. “Deflation Reconsidered.” P. Corbin and M. Sabrin (eds.), Geographical Aspects of Inflationary Processes, Vol. I. Pleasantville, NY: Redgrave Publishing Co.
Rothbard, Murray N. 1991. “Deflation, Free or Compulsory.” The Free Market. Auburn, AL: The Ludwig von Mises Institute, April, pp. 1, 3-4.
Salerno, Joseph. 2003. “An Austrian Taxonomy of Deflation – with Applications to the U.S.” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. Winter. Vol. 6, No. 4. pp. 81-109
Salerno, Joseph. 2004. Deflation and Depression: Where’s the Link? October 5. http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?control=1583
Selgin, George. 1997. Less Than Zero: The Case for a Falling Price Level in a Growing Economy. London: Institute of Economic Affairs. Hobart Papper No. 132.
Best regards,
Walter
10. Reincarnation
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 4:04 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Hypothetical
Dear Dr. Block,
If reincarnation were real, and you got to decide which country you’d be born into in your next life, which country would you choose to be born in?
Thank you for your time and help,
Nathan Fryzek.
Dear Nathan:
The US. Canada’s not bad. Of course, these are the only two countries I’ve ever lived in. I’ve travelled perhaps to two dozen, maybe three dozen others, and always felt comfortable there, too. But, they didn’t feel like home to me.
Another question along the same lines. Suppose I were reincarnated, who would I want to marry? My wife.
In many ways, I’m content with my life. I get paid a decent salary, I have a light teaching load, pretty much everything I write gets published, I’m promoting liberty and having fun doing it.
Who would I want to be if I were reincarnated?
Me. Well, maybe, Mises or Rothbard. Maybe Bach or Mozart.
Best regards,
Walter
11. Israeli politics
From: Nathan Fryzek
Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2020 10:20 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Israeli Politics
Dear Dr. Block,
What are your favorite Israeli political parties? What do you think of Netanyahu?
Thank you for your time,
Nathan Fryzek.
Dear Nathan:
My favorite is Zehut, Moshe Feiglin, the leader, is sometimes called the Ron Paul of Israel. Netanyahu is too soft in foreign policy, and not as free market oriented as is Feiglin.
Best regards,
Walter
2:52 am on May 19, 2020
