Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

The i n d i v i d u a I has the righ t to set his own
price for his own property.
To sub s tit ute the f r e e rna r k e t for em inen t doma in, he
concludes, is simply to "substitute justice for
injustice•••"(3)
The eli min a t ion 0 f em i n en t doma i n me an s t hat any
property owner would have the right not to sell his
property until or unless his conditions were met. The
critical questions that must be faced by libertarians
are therefore whether the repudiation of eminent domain
would (a) so raise the cost of road construction as to
render the idea of a privately financed road system
untenable and/or (b) result in a confusing network of
bends, curves and detours by forcing companies to build
their roads around every hold-out.
Libertarians argue that [1] privately constructed
r 0 ads nee d benolessst r a i gh t t han thosewe now ha ve
and [2] while paying the property owner a just price
for his property might tend to increase the cost of
road construction, other factors would reduce costs.
First, since a business can make a profit only by satisfying
consumers better than its competitors, and
sin c e the m0 s tat tract i ve r 0 ad from the s tand poi n t 0 f
both cost and convenience would probably be a relatively
inexpensive road with occasional turns, rather than
either arrow-straight roads constructed at exorbitant
costs or cheap roads with sharp turns at every block,
.t ha tis the type of road it wi 11 pay the road entrepreneur
to build. Second, Wollstein points out that
much of the va I ue of commercial structures
and houses stems from the social environment
in which they exist. Thus, if a road building
company buys all of the houses in a given
area, so that there are no more neighbors for
a family to socialize with, or customers for
a business to sell to, the value of a home or
business in that area would greatly decrease.
Such considerations then discourage the
rational home or business owner from holding
out for too long, or for asking for too much
money for his property. In the extreme, if a
person held out Indefinitely ... he might
well find himself living in the center-strip
of a highway--not a very pleasant thought.(4)
Third, since there are typically alternative
276