Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

issued, without more than a handful of people knowing
the cause, tens of thousands of people whose identity
cou 1 d not be as cer ta i ned by months of invest igat ion,
are made to••• move in the right direction."(B)
c. Distribution.
Since under the free market those eager to earn
profits can do so only by producing better than their
competitors what the consumers desire to buy, the individualist
anarchists contend that there can be no distinction
between production and distribution. The more
sa tis factor i ly one serves the consumers, the more profits
he will earn. "The only means to acquire wealth
and to preserve it in a market economy not adulterated
by government-made restriction," says Ludwig von Mises,
"is to serve the consumers in the best and cheapest
way."(9)
This means that wealth is not dispersed on the
basis of personal moral merit but purely according to
one's a b iIi t y top r 0 v ide 0 the r s wit h wh a t the y wa n t •
While this may be considered unjust from some higher
point of view, the libertarians regard It as one of the
market's greatest merits. The demand for a "just" distribution
of wealth, argues Hayek, implies that wealth
be distributed according to moral merit. But this
mea n s t hat s om e per son 0 r s om e g r 0 up mus t be compIe tel y
cognizant of all the motivations that prompted any individual
to engage in any particular action and then
allocate rewards accordingly. But since "we cannot
know or isolate all the circumstances which determine
mer it, tf wit h 0 u t the compIetee1 i mina t ion 0 fin d i v i d ua 1
privacy, the allocation of wealth according to "merit"
is incompatible with a free society.(lO)
The dispersion of wealth in a market society, libertarians
argue, is in itself neither just nor unjust.
It is functional from the point of view of facilitating
the satisfaction of all market participants; it is also
an integral aspect of a free society.
d. State, Economy and Conscious Coordination.
Since the market process spontaneously coordinates
the act ion s 0 f a II me r ke t pe r tic i pe n t s tIt canoperat e
wit h the u t m0 s t dec e n t r ali z a t ion 0 f know 1e d ge. S uc h
ope rat ion permit s eve r yon e t 0 de vis e and pur sue his ow n
p I a n s, run n i n g the gam u t from pur ely s elf ish to a 1 t r uist
IC. It makes no difference what ends any individual
226