Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice

Edward Stringham's Anarchy and the Law accepts the reality of the churning state wherever government is entrusted to define and enforce the "rules of the game", and thus begins with the presumption that any constitutional mechanism we can envision will prove impotent against demands to increase both the scale and scope of government. Instead, Anarchy and the Law collects the best of the literature on how non-governmental institutional arrangements can effectively define and enforce property rights, prevent predation, and promote social cooperation under the division of labor. In other words, peace and prosperity requires property rights, but not necessarily state supported police and political lawmakers to define and enforce those property rights.

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Citation (Chicago Style): Boettke, Peter. "Book Review of Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice, ed. Edward Stringham." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 67, nos. 3-4 (2008): 965-967.