Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

outes that are possible, albeit of varying convenience,
this means, points out economist Walter Block,
that the maximum amount that could be charged by any
holdout could be no more than the cheapest of all the
alternatIves. Moreover, Block continues,
The road developer, knowing that he will be
satisfied with any of five trajectories, can
purchase opt ions to buy the land along each
sit e • Ifar e c a I cit rantho I do u t rna t e ria 1 i z e s
on anyone route, he can shift to his second,
t h i r d, f 0 u r thor f 1fth cho ice.. The compe t itition
between owners along each of these
passages will tend to keep the price down.(5)
And finall y, even i nthe wo r s t pos sib I e case, t hat
of a holdout occupying an absolutely essential plot,
libertarians remain undeterred.· It is at least conceivable,
they maintain, for a developer to build
either a tunnel underneath or a bridge over the land.
Thus, they argue, for all of the these reasons it is
not a t alIeI ear t hat the e I 1m ina t ion 0 f em i n en t doma i n
would, in fact, increase the cost of road construction.
But eve n i f t his we reth e Ca s e I I be r tar ians rep I y t hat
this is so only because the full cost of the roads
would then be borne by their users rather than being
partially passed off onto the hapless property owners
who, under eminent domain, often receive less than the
minimum for which they would have sold their property.
But libertarians do not stop here. They argue
that in all likelihood the cost of road construction
w 0 u I d act u a 1 I Y bel e s sin the f r e e rna r k e t • P r i vat e
enterprise is constrained to strive for profit. In
contrast to "pUblic" projects, efficiency is a prime
consideration. And, as previously noted, the libertarian
bel i eves that government intervention must suspend
the mar k e t pro c e s sin any and a 11 areasin wh i chi t
operates, thereby creating islands of calculational
chaos. Since this means that there'is no way for the
government to allocate flits" resources efficiently,
production costs for government operations tend to be
considerable higher than comparable projects in the
p r 1 vat e sector. Th us, con c 1 ude rna n y 1 i be r tar ians, p r i ­
vat e r 0 ad con s t rue t ion, even wit h 0 u t em i n en t d oms in,
w0 u 1 d pro b a b I Y b e c h e ape. r t han pub lie r 0 a d con s t rue ­
tion, even with eminent domain.(6)
Finally, libertarians note that road placements
are now commonly determined by political criteria.
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