Freedom, Minds and Institutions

Contents......Page 5
Acknowledgments......Page 11
Introduction......Page 15
I. Action: Form, Meaning and Knowledge......Page 19
1. Action......Page 21
1.1. Happenstances......Page 23
1.2. The Concept of Action......Page 25
1.3. Cooperation and Freedom......Page 26
2. Choice: Form versus Meaning......Page 29
2.1. Content and Form......Page 30
2.2.1. Choice as Form......Page 31
2.2.2. The Meaning of an Action......Page 34
2.2.3. Methodological Individualism......Page 35
2.2.4. The Formal Approach to Action......Page 36
2.3. Interactions and Unintended Consequences......Page 37
2.3.2. Interactions......Page 38
3. Value, Price, and Cost......Page 39
3.1.1. Goods as a Web of Actions......Page 40
3.1.2. Value from a Formal Point of View......Page 41
3.2. The Price of an Action......Page 47
3.2.1. Trade and Benefits......Page 49
3.2.2. Needs Are Useless......Page 52
3.2.3. To Pay a Price......Page 53
3.3. The Cost of an Action......Page 54
3.3.1. The Subjectivity of Costs......Page 55
3.4.1. Victims and Injurers......Page 56
3.4.2. Efficiency: Travels in Different Directions......Page 58
3.4.3. Kinds of Approaches to Individual Plans......Page 59
3.5.1. Benefits for a Given Individual......Page 62
3.5.2. Goods and Bads......Page 63
3.5.3. The Efficiency of Cooperation......Page 64
3.5.4. Being in a Better State......Page 65
3.6. The Problem of Collective Efficiency......Page 67
4. Institutions as Rules......Page 69
4.1. Rules as Constraints......Page 70
4.1.2. Arbitrary Power......Page 71
4.2. Rules and Efficiency......Page 72
4.2.1. Unnecessary Efficiency......Page 73
4.2.2. Efficiency Is Not Enough......Page 74
4.2.3. Efficiency, Rules, and Computations......Page 75
4.3. Formal versus Concrete Rules......Page 76
4.3.1. Kinds of Order in Society?......Page 77
4.3.2. Rules and Evolution......Page 78
4.4. Two Types of Interactions......Page 79
4.5. Open and Closed Interactions......Page 80
4.6. Institutions and Organizations......Page 81
4.7. The Liberty Connection......Page 82
5.1 Propositional Knowledge......Page 85
5.1.1. The No-Justification Approach......Page 86
5.2.1. Algorithmic Knowledge......Page 88
5.2.2. Networks and Knowledge......Page 89
5.3.1. The Cognitive Powers of the Individual......Page 90
5.3.2. Direct Individualism......Page 91
5.3.3. Indirect Individualism......Page 95
II. Minds, Networks, and Liberty......Page 97
6. Human Action: The Non-Formalized Approach......Page 99
6.1. Mathematics in Economics......Page 102
6.2.1. Objections to Measurements......Page 104
6.2.2. Objections to the Use of Calculus......Page 105
6.2.4. Society Cannot Be Planned......Page 106
6.3. The Rejection of Mathematics: A Critical Analysis......Page 107
6.4. Traditions of Praxeology......Page 109
6.5. The Virtues of Natural Language......Page 110
7.1. The Study of the Mind as an Adventure......Page 113
7.3. Interactions and their Models......Page 117
8.1. Planning and Interactions......Page 119
8.2 The Classical Debate on Planning......Page 120
8.2.1. Market Socialism......Page 124
8.2.2. Hayek\'s Argument against Planning......Page 127
8.2.3. Philosophical Intermezzo: Popper\'s Rejection of Planning......Page 130
8.2.4. Another Interlude: Philosophy in Economics......Page 133
8.2.5. Austrians versus Market Socialists......Page 135
8.2.6. Two Types of Assessments of the Classical Debate on Planning......Page 136
8.3. The Austrian Internal Debate......Page 137
8.4. Limits of Planning as Limits of Computability......Page 139
8.4.1. The Closed Web of Interactions......Page 140
8.4.2. The Formal Structure of Planning......Page 141
8.4.3. Changing the Plan......Page 143
8.4.4. The Theory, the Ideal, and the Praxis of Planning......Page 144
8.4.5. Beyond the Universal Plan......Page 146
8.5. The Planner and the Libertarian......Page 148
9. Minds, Brains, and Computer Models......Page 153
9.1. The Classical Model of Cognition......Page 154
9.1.1. J.R. Lucas and the Idea that Minds Are Not Machines......Page 155
9.1.2. The Knowledge Problem from the Perspective of Computer Science......Page 156
9.2. Connectionism......Page 157
9.3. Computer Models in Social Science......Page 158
9.4. Networks of Agents......Page 160
9.5. Planning: A Reexamination......Page 163
9.6. An Interpretation of Economic Calculation......Page 164
9.7. Visible and Invisible Connections......Page 168
9.8. Institutions and the Connections of a Network......Page 169
10. Markets as Networks of Agents......Page 171
10.1. Explanatory Gains......Page 172
10.2. The Market Algorithm......Page 173
10.3. Property and the Network......Page 177
10.3.1. The Incompleteness of Rules......Page 179
10.4. Power and the Network......Page 180
10.5. Markets and Liberty......Page 182
10.5.1. Corrolary: non-interference with individual plans......Page 184
10.6. Locked in the Network?......Page 185
10.7. Markets, Minds, and Social Stability......Page 189
III. Transition to Liberty......Page 195
11. Absolute Liberty......Page 197
11.1. The Problem o f a Common Concern......Page 198
11.1.1. Common Concerns Place Restrictions on Liberty......Page 199
11.1.2. Erratic Interventions......Page 200
11.1.3. The Impossibility of a Coherent Official Concern......Page 201
11.2. The Problem of Particular Concerns......Page 202
11.3. Limitation of Liberty: the Lack of Justification......Page 203
12.1. Private Property......Page 205
12.2. The Formal Grammar of Action......Page 208
12.3. How to Cope with Complexity......Page 209
12.3.1. Property, Compensation, and Efficiency......Page 211
12.4. The Web of Agreements......Page 213
12.5. The Fragility of Tyranny......Page 215
12.6. The Collapse of Socialism in Eastern Europe......Page 217
12.7. Institutions and Minds......Page 218
13.1. Decentralization Is Not Enough......Page 223
13.2. From Piecemeal Planning to Piecemeal Planning......Page 225
13.2.1. Total Planning Was An Illusion......Page 226
13.2.2. Popper\'s Philosophy and Transition......Page 228
13.3. Communism after Communism......Page 229
13.4. A Review of the Network of Agents Model......Page 230
13.5. Agents, Networks, and Calculations......Page 231
13.5.1. Reconstruction of Transition Costs......Page 232
13.5.2. Rules and Interventions......Page 233
13.5.4. The Market Process......Page 234
13.5.5. Perverse Incentives......Page 235
13.6. The Incentives in the Network......Page 236
13.6.1. Transition to Liberty, Rent-Seeking and Incentive Structures......Page 237
14. Minds and Markets during the Transition Process......Page 239
14.1. Conflicts and Justice......Page 240
14.2. Making Your Voice Heard......Page 242
14.3. A Neighborhood Effect......Page 243
14.4. Democracy versus Liberty......Page 244
15. Liberty and Human Action......Page 247
15.1. The Minimization of Interferences......Page 248
15.2. Agreements and Efficiency......Page 250
15.3. Taking Liberty Seriously......Page 251
Bibliography......Page 257
Index......Page 267