From: K
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2019 8:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Physics major interested in economics
Good evening Dr. Block,
My name is K and I’m currently an undergraduate pursuing my B.S. in physics at the University of XYZ. I guess I’m a bit of an Austrian “hobbyist” and I’ve been reading and watching a lot of lectures on Austrian economics from the Mises Institute. When I’m not busy with physics I try to learn more about the Austrian approach to the free market and the effects of interventionism, that being said, you and your Mises Institute colleagues have lead me to becoming an “anarcho-capitalist”. I must say, thank you for leading me to the light.
I’ll cut to the chase here though. So in my senior astrophysics class we have been given an assignment where we had to read a paper titled “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Astrosociology and Cultural Aspects”. In this paper many things are discussed in the context of “first contact” and economics is briefly touched on, and I mean briefly, which put a question in my mind. I wrote a small essay on what I called “astroeconomics” for the opinion section of the assignment where we were asked to answer a question about what we think would be important in such a scenario. But my question to you is how would an Austrian go about a free market between earth and some other intelligent species? What would be used for money in a situation where we can’t trade anything other than information for quite a while?
My premise was that after first contact had been established, inclined entrepreneurs with access to a powerful signal transmitter could begin free trade. I suggested that maybe we trade historical, literary and scientific information for things such as schematics for new devices or vessels. Obviously this relies on them being interested enough to make such trades.
Has this question ever been analyzed from the Austrian perspective and if so, could you lead me to resources? I found this topic extremely interesting and I understand that it’s purely theoretical but I would like the input of a true Austrian. I’m under no time constraint for this so it’s more of a personal interest as a free market inclined physicist.
I have heard that you have published hundreds of papers with undergraduates and in my opinion, that is incredible. Maybe this would make for an interesting topic for your own undergrads.
Again, I thank you for what you and your colleagues have taught me in my spare time. I hope that this finds you well and I look forward to any future correspondence. I leave you with my personal favorite quote of yours: “If it moves, privatize it. If it doesn’t move, privatize it.”
Best regards,
K
Dear K:
Fascinating letter. Thanks for your kinds words.
You might want to read this book:
Nelson, Peter Lothian and Walter E. Block. 2018. Space capitalism: the case for privatizing space travel and colonization. Palgrave Macmillan; https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-74651-7; https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/3319746502/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=1531187909&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl2&tag=economicpolicyjournal-20&linkId=959e913e476f48b289a16223d557a826; http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2018/07/new-walter-block-book-space-capitalism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicpolicyjournal%2FKpwH+%28EconomicPolicyJournal.com%29;
https://www.c-span.org/video/?448910-4/space-capitalism;
https://mises.org/power-market/walter-block-talks-space-capitalism-cspan;
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/hey-im-on-tv-c-span/;
http://mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com/2018/09/walter-block-on-space-capitalism.html;
I hope and trust you don’t mind that I copy my publisher and my co author on this.
Now to answer your question (sorry, I couldn’t help inserting a commercial ().
As an Austrian economist, I’d say we’d first start off with barter. After the “double coincidence of wants” (look this up) reared its ugly head once too often, we’d develop a money with the ETs.
But we wouldn’t trade info, nor could this ever become a money. That’s because info is part of intellectual property (IP), and that cannot become an economic good. I now speak not as an Austrian, but as a libertarian.
Here are some readings on IP:
Block, 2013; Boldrin and Levine, 2008; De Wachter, 2013; Kinsella, 2001, 2012; Long, 1995; Menell, 2007A, 2007B; Mukherjee and Block, 2012; Navabi, 2015; Palmer, 1989.
Block, Walter E. 2013. Defending the Undefendable II: Freedom in all realms; Terra Libertas Publishing House; isbn: 978-1-908089-37-3; http://store.mises.org/Defending-the-Undefendable-2-P10932.aspx
Boldrin, Michele & David K. Levine. 2008. Against Intellectual Monopoly. http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm; http://mises.org/store/Against-Intellectual-Monopoly-P552.aspx
De Wachter, Joren. 2013. “IP is a thought crime.” at TEDxLeuven. June 6;
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2001. “Against Intellectual Property,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2, Winter, pp. 1-53; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/15_2/15_2_1.pdf
Kinsella, N. Stephan. 2012. “Economic Freedom of the World Rankings and Intellectual Property: The United States’ Bad Ranking is Even Worse Than Reported.” http://c4sif.org/2012/09/economic-freedom-of-the-world-indexes-and-intellectual-property-the-united-states-bad-ranking-is-even-worse-than-reported/
Long, Roderick. 1995. “The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights.” Formulations. Vol. 3, No. 1, Autumn; http://libertariannation.org/a/f31l1.html
Menell, Peter S. 2007. “Intellectual Property and the Property Rights Movement.” Regulation, Fall; http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv30n3/v30n3-6.pdf
Menell, Peter S. 2007. “The Property Rights Movement’s Embrace of Intellectual Property: True Love or Doomed Relationship?” Ecology Law Quarterly, Vol. 34.
Mukherjee, Jay and Walter E. Block. 2012. “Libertarians and the Catholic Church on Intellectual Property Laws.” Journal of Political Philosophy Las Torres de Lucca. Issue No. 1, July-December, pp. 59-75;
http://www.lastorresdelucca.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=93:libertarios-y-la-iglesia-católica-en-las-leyes-de-propiedad-intelectual&Itemid=24&lang=en&Itemid=23
Navabi, Ash. 2015. “To Taylor, Love Freedom.” June 23;
https://mises.ca/posts/blog/to-taylor-love-freedom/
Palmer, Tom. 1989. “Intellectual Property: A Non-Posnerian Law and Economics Approach” Hamline Law Review, Spring, Vol 12 No. 2.
Please send me a copy of your paper, when available.
Best regards,
Walter
1:44 am on May 13, 2019
