Reference
Walter Block - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Walter Block (born 1941) is a leading free market economist associated with the Austrian School. ..."
"Walter Block (born 1941) is a leading free market economist associated with the Austrian School. ..."
Images
TheAdvocates.org - Walter Block
200x221 JPEG, color
200x221 JPEG, color
Born
1941, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Associations
Board of Advisors, Advocates for Self-Government
Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Chair in Economics and Professor of Economics, Loyola University
Senior Fellow, Ludwig von Mises Institute
Treasurer, Radical Libertarian Alliance
Web Pages
Libertarianism: Walter Block
Biography, picture and quotes
"It was 1963, and college student Walter Block was, by his own admission, 'a dumb pinko.' Ayn Rand came to visit Brooklyn College, and Block decided to attend her lecture -- just so he could boo and hiss! After her speech, he decided that he had not booed or hissed enough, so he decided to attend the free luncheon being held in her honor. Of course, Block, not being a member of the Objectivist Study Group, was seated a long way from the guest of honor. So, being young and aggressive, he decided to march right up to the head table, stick his head between Rand and Nathaniel Branden, and tell them that there was a socialist who wanted to debate them."
Biography, picture and quotes
"It was 1963, and college student Walter Block was, by his own admission, 'a dumb pinko.' Ayn Rand came to visit Brooklyn College, and Block decided to attend her lecture -- just so he could boo and hiss! After her speech, he decided that he had not booed or hissed enough, so he decided to attend the free luncheon being held in her honor. Of course, Block, not being a member of the Objectivist Study Group, was seated a long way from the guest of honor. So, being young and aggressive, he decided to march right up to the head table, stick his head between Rand and Nathaniel Branden, and tell them that there was a socialist who wanted to debate them."
Articles
Putting Opponents on the Hot Seat, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., 3 May 2006
"Whether he is writing on economic theory, ethics, political secession, drugs, roads, education, monetary policy, social theory, unions, political language, or anything else, his prose burns with a passion for this single idea: if human problems are to be solved, the solution is to be found by permitting greater liberty."
"Whether he is writing on economic theory, ethics, political secession, drugs, roads, education, monetary policy, social theory, unions, political language, or anything else, his prose burns with a passion for this single idea: if human problems are to be solved, the solution is to be found by permitting greater liberty."
Writings
Block Attacks Rockwell for 'Extremism', 28 Jul 2006
Related Topic: Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
A tongue-in-cheek commentary by Prof. Block on Lew's article about blackouts
"He has no sense of proportion, nor balance. Instead, he marks out the most extreme positions on any given subject, and tries to make them sound, horrors!, reasonable. The latest example of this extremist nonsense ... is a horrendous little piece in which he has the temerity to call for the complete privatization of, would you believe it, electrical utilities."
Related Topic: Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
A tongue-in-cheek commentary by Prof. Block on Lew's article about blackouts
"He has no sense of proportion, nor balance. Instead, he marks out the most extreme positions on any given subject, and tries to make them sound, horrors!, reasonable. The latest example of this extremist nonsense ... is a horrendous little piece in which he has the temerity to call for the complete privatization of, would you believe it, electrical utilities."
Drug Legalization: How to Radically Lower the Number of Murders in New Orleans, 27 Jan 2007
Related Topics: War on Drugs, Louisiana, Prohibition
"The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1917 was implemented for a good purpose: to save ourselves from the scourge of drugs. Has it succeeded? To ask this question is to answer it. People can purchase addictive substances in any major city in the country. No, this 'war' has failed, like so many other such initiatives undertaken by government."
Related Topics: War on Drugs, Louisiana, Prohibition
"The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1917 was implemented for a good purpose: to save ourselves from the scourge of drugs. Has it succeeded? To ask this question is to answer it. People can purchase addictive substances in any major city in the country. No, this 'war' has failed, like so many other such initiatives undertaken by government."
Milton Friedman RIP, Mises.org Daily Article, 16 Nov 2006
Related Topics: Milton Friedman, Minimum Wage Laws, War on Drugs
"I was amazed and delighted at his pugnaciousness in defense of liberty. He would engage seemingly everyone in debate on libertarian issues: waitresses, cameramen, the person placing the microphone on his lapel. He was tireless, humorous, enthusiastic. ... I remember coming away from that event with the thought that 'Milton Friedman is an intellectual tiger,' so overwhelming was he in that discussion."
Related Topics: Milton Friedman, Minimum Wage Laws, War on Drugs
"I was amazed and delighted at his pugnaciousness in defense of liberty. He would engage seemingly everyone in debate on libertarian issues: waitresses, cameramen, the person placing the microphone on his lapel. He was tireless, humorous, enthusiastic. ... I remember coming away from that event with the thought that 'Milton Friedman is an intellectual tiger,' so overwhelming was he in that discussion."
On Autobiography, 4 Dec 2002
Related Topic: Murray N. Rothbard
Autobiographical, recounts how Prof. Block met Ayn Rand and later Murray Rothbard and how he progressed from libertarian minarchism to anarcho-capitalism
"... I invite all those who have been heavily influenced by Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, either personally or through their writings, to write up a bit of their autobiography, focusing on how they first were introduced to this philosophy. If we can no longer have this autobiographical information from Murray, perhaps we can from the rest of us, and this can in some small way make up for that lack."
Related Topic: Murray N. Rothbard
Autobiographical, recounts how Prof. Block met Ayn Rand and later Murray Rothbard and how he progressed from libertarian minarchism to anarcho-capitalism
"... I invite all those who have been heavily influenced by Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, either personally or through their writings, to write up a bit of their autobiography, focusing on how they first were introduced to this philosophy. If we can no longer have this autobiographical information from Murray, perhaps we can from the rest of us, and this can in some small way make up for that lack."
Open Letter to Barack Obama, 16 May 2008
Related Topics: Barack Obama, John McCain
Explains why in wartime foreign policy is more important than economics or civil liberties and offers some advice for Senator Obama
"Foreign policy in my view is more important than either economics or civil liberties. ... And, in this area, you stand head and shoulders above the other two major candidates. ... You are different. I discern ... that beneath your ultra-liberal (socialist) voting record, and mindless demagogic sloganeering ... there is a real concern for people, particularly the poor."
Related Topics: Barack Obama, John McCain
Explains why in wartime foreign policy is more important than economics or civil liberties and offers some advice for Senator Obama
"Foreign policy in my view is more important than either economics or civil liberties. ... And, in this area, you stand head and shoulders above the other two major candidates. ... You are different. I discern ... that beneath your ultra-liberal (socialist) voting record, and mindless demagogic sloganeering ... there is a real concern for people, particularly the poor."
Rent Control, The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
Why Be An Economist? To Be Happy, That's Why, Mises.org Daily Article, 21 Dec 2006
Related Topic: Economists
"My advice to my very best students ... is to major in economics, ... and then go off and get a Ph.D. in economics. ... Why do I give this advice? The better to promote liberty, of course. I am motivated by the fact that Austro-libertarianism is a rare and precious flower, yet is crucially important to the prosperity and even survival of the entire human race."
Related Topic: Economists
"My advice to my very best students ... is to major in economics, ... and then go off and get a Ph.D. in economics. ... Why do I give this advice? The better to promote liberty, of course. I am motivated by the fact that Austro-libertarianism is a rare and precious flower, yet is crucially important to the prosperity and even survival of the entire human race."
Interviews
Defending the Undefendable: Walter Block, Twenty Years Later, by Alberto Mingardi, Laissez Faire City Times, 7 Dec 1998
"My book Defending is modeled in Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. You might almost say that Defending might have been called Libertarianism in One Lesson. Each book starts with a lesson (in my book: the libertarian non aggression axiom; in Hazlitt, the seen and the unseen) and give a few dozen examples."
"My book Defending is modeled in Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. You might almost say that Defending might have been called Libertarianism in One Lesson. Each book starts with a lesson (in my book: the libertarian non aggression axiom; in Hazlitt, the seen and the unseen) and give a few dozen examples."
Faculty Spotlight Interview: Walter Block, 18 Jan 2010
Related Topic: Murray N. Rothbard
"What drew you to the Austrian School and to the Ludwig von Mises Institute? Murray Rothbard is the guilty party here. When I first met him, I was a minarchist. It took Murray about 10 minutes to convert me to anarcho capitalism, but my acceptance of Austrianism was far more gradual, and took several years."
Related Topic: Murray N. Rothbard
"What drew you to the Austrian School and to the Ludwig von Mises Institute? Murray Rothbard is the guilty party here. When I first met him, I was a minarchist. It took Murray about 10 minutes to convert me to anarcho capitalism, but my acceptance of Austrianism was far more gradual, and took several years."
Radical Economics: An Interview with Walter Block, Austrian Economics Newsletter, 1999
"In the fifties and sixties, I was just another commie living in Brooklyn. ... In 1962, I remember hissing and booing Ayn Rand when she came to speak to my college. Later, though, I entered into a debate with Nathaniel Branden, who was her partner. He recommended Henry Hazlitt and Rand for me to read, and these books brought me around to a free enterprise position."
"In the fifties and sixties, I was just another commie living in Brooklyn. ... In 1962, I remember hissing and booing Ayn Rand when she came to speak to my college. Later, though, I entered into a debate with Nathaniel Branden, who was her partner. He recommended Henry Hazlitt and Rand for me to read, and these books brought me around to a free enterprise position."
Road Socialism, The Lew Rockwell Show, 20 Aug 2008
Related Topic: Private Roads
Lew talks with Block about the privatization of roads and streets, subject of an upcoming book
Related Topic: Private Roads
Lew talks with Block about the privatization of roads and streets, subject of an upcoming book
The Non-Aggression Axiom, The Lew Rockwell Show, 4 Aug 2008
Related Topic: Non-aggression Principle
Lew asks Block to explain the non-agression axiom and he goes on to talk about property rights, how Rothbard convinced him that even limited government violates the axiom, and why government cannot be viewed as a club that you join
Related Topic: Non-aggression Principle
Lew asks Block to explain the non-agression axiom and he goes on to talk about property rights, how Rothbard convinced him that even limited government violates the axiom, and why government cannot be viewed as a club that you join
Walter Block Interview, by Scott Horton, The Weekend Interview Show with Scott Horton, 30 Jul 2005
"Walter Block discusses how Austrian economics compares to the other schools on the questions of regulation, monopoly, gold, roads, and a land without a state."
"Walter Block discusses how Austrian economics compares to the other schools on the questions of regulation, monopoly, gold, roads, and a land without a state."
Walter Block Is an Anarchist, The Lew Rockwell Show, 28 Jul 2009
Related Topic: Anarcho-Capitalism
Lew asks Block whether he is an anarchist and they discuss various books and articles that cover the topic
Related Topic: Anarcho-Capitalism
Lew asks Block whether he is an anarchist and they discuss various books and articles that cover the topic
Books Authored
Defending the Undefendable: The Pimp, Prostitute, Scab, Slumlord, Libeler, Moneylender, and Other Scapegoats in the Rogue's Gallery of American Society, 1976
Related Topic: Moral Liberty
Related Topic: Moral Liberty
- ISBN 0830301364
: Paperback, Fleet Press, 1976
- ISBN 0930073053
: Paperback, Fox & Wilkes, 2nd edition, 1991