National Defense as a Private Good: Freedom as a Positive Externality

Youliy Ninov

doi:10.62374/h2dgwn82

Authors

Youliy Ninov Independent scholar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62374/h2dgwn82

Keywords:

Austrian economics, anarchism, national defense

Abstract

The standard anarcho-capitalist suggestion for defense against foreign aggression leads to numerous systematic built-in problems which prevent it from being more widely accepted. The most prominent one is the anarcho-capitalist defense being a public good. Additional problems can be identified with regard to the incentives/motivation and knowledge of the anarcho-capitalist defense companies. A new, stateless, free-market-based system is offered which makes national defense a private good and brings the incentives and knowledge issues in line with the standard way free market is organized. The suggested system, which represents an alternative of anarcho-capitalism, lets the aggressor pay entirely for the respective society’s defense, thus freeing the private property owners from the obligation to provide for their own defense. In this way national defense becomes a private good and the respective society’s freedom, a byproduct and a basic human right.

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