What do you think?
Rate this book
The Privatisation of Roads & Highways: Human and Economic Factors
Walter Block's remarkable new treatise on private roads, will cause you to rethink the whole of the way modern transportation networks operate. It is bold, innovative, radical, compelling, and shows how free-market economic theory is the clarifying lens through which to see the failures of the state & see the alternative that is consistent with human liberty.
He shows that even the worst, off-the-cuff scenario of life under private ownership of roads would be fantastic by comparison to the existing reality of government-ownership.
That is only the beginning of what Block has done. He has made a lengthy, detailed, and positive case that the privatization of roads would be socially optimal in every way. It would save lives, curtail pollution, save us (as individuals!) money, save us massive time, introduce accountability, & make transportation a pleasure instead of a pain in the neck.
Because this is the first-ever complete book on this topic, the length & detail are necessary. He shows that this is not some libertarian pipe-dream but the most practical application of free-market logic. Block is dealing with something that confronts us everyday. And in so doing, he illustrates the power of economic theory to take an existing set of facts and help you see them in a completely different way.
What's also nice is that the prose has great passion about it, despite the great scholarly detail. He loves answering the objections (aren't roads public goods? Aren't roads too expensive to build privately?) and making the case, fully aware that he has to overcome a deep and persistent bias in favor of public ownership. The writer burns with a moral passion on the subjects of highway deaths and pollution issues. His "Open Letter to Mothers Against Drunk Driving" is a thrill to read!
The book comes together as a battle plan against government roads and a complete roadmap for a future of private transportation.
494 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
32 people are currently reading
543 people want to read
About the author
Walter Block
66 books130 followersWalter Block earned his PhD in Economics at Columbia University. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books which include Defending the Undefendable; Lexicon of Economic Thought, Economic Freedom of the World 1975-1995; Rent Control: Myths and Realities; Discrimination, Affirmative Action, and Equal Opportunity; Theology, Third Word Development and Economic Justice; Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard; Religion, Econonomics, and Social Thought; and Economic Freedom: Toward a Theory of Measurement.
Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such journals as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.
Dr. Block has written more than 500 articles for various non-refereed journals, magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such journals as The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at Loyola University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 10, 2021
What can I say? It's a book about roads, and why the state should have nothing to do with them. It would be a tragedy if this book didn't exist, and it's still a tragedy it exists because no one ever reads it. Hopefully, on my deathbed, some statist will finally tell me I was right about the roads, that the free market can provide them, and that I'm not tacitly consenting to the "social contract" whenever I set foot on them.
October 10, 2022
I'm still relatively new to Libertarian philosophy, and this book helps me a lot by decimating the "muh roads" argument that I earlier found hard to respond to. Note: If you are a statist, or a layperson without even an introductory grounding in the libertarian axioms, then this book is not for you. Nothing in this book will convince you, because the entirety of Block's thesis is merely the application of the very basic Rothbardian principles of liberty and non-aggression applied to the domain of road management.
As far as theory is concerned, the book stands on firm ground. Block expounds nothing new, all he does is apply the already well-formulated principles of libertarianism to another domain. He does, however, do a good job with comprehensiveness. He anticipates every possible argument, and answers them rationally. Similarly for the part of the book relating to application of the theory. Convincing indeed.
It is however with the part of the book dedicated to "Process", or the Transition to Private Road Industry that we encounter roadblocks (hehe). Walter Block has no notion of middle ground - he talks of the changes as if they will happen all of a sudden, and makes some very questionable points regarding intermediate stages. His premise is that the process of privatization of the already-built roads can be painful at first (true), but that a botched-up privatization job is still better than no privatization - this is a very strong claim and I find it hard to agree with in practice (he does cite Rothbard for this claim, but he should have expanded on it - I mean else the entire book could be cited away, since Block does not really add anything new to the existing set of ideas in libertarian philosophy with this book). He says that those who are in charge of managing roads now should not be allowed to bid in the process of privatization lest all of the control goes straight back to them. How will this forbidding happen? By state intervention? Walter Block gives no answer.
Even worse is the book's fourth part, that deals with Critiques. This part is hopelessly redundant. Repetition is inevitable in a book that is organized as a collection of essays, true, but not if you have entire chapters that could be removed with no reduction in 'substance'. Every possible objection has already been dealt with in the previous parts. All that is accomplished in this part is that Block manages to show the reader that he got sass. But it does not help that the people whose critiques he is responding to come across as inarticulate baboons. That entire exchange with Tullock, which spans 3 damn chapters is simply embarrassing to read. Both of them engage in strawmanship, debating on the nitty-gritties of theoretical arguments than practical concerns.
Plus, Block keeps insisting that the government is criminally responsible for road deaths. In theory, I agree. But to go to the extent of claiming that governments officials ought to be tried in a Nuremberg fashion for these deaths is just insane. Also, why, oh why, did Block have to insert that chapter where he castigates the Reason magazine for advising the state to loosen some restrictions? Block suggests that working with the state to loosen restrictions is bad, since any cooperation with an entity as evil as the government is bad. He draws an analogy that what Reason magazine does is akin to "campaigning for slave-owners to use softer whips".
Libertarians would go much farther in securing more liberty for everyone, if they would not stick to such hard-headed idealism as this. In a world where slavery is widely practiced, advocating for softer whips is indeed a welcome move. This is not contradictory to the higher goal of abolishing slavery altogether. At one point, Block really claims that it is undesirable if such half-measures actually bring improvements to public roads, as that would "offset the goal of fully private road networks by another 100 years". In my opinion, revolutionaries are bad for any ideology - be it liberal or statist. Reforms must happen incrementally, else they will never manifest outside paper in a manner beneficial to all.
As far as theory is concerned, the book stands on firm ground. Block expounds nothing new, all he does is apply the already well-formulated principles of libertarianism to another domain. He does, however, do a good job with comprehensiveness. He anticipates every possible argument, and answers them rationally. Similarly for the part of the book relating to application of the theory. Convincing indeed.
It is however with the part of the book dedicated to "Process", or the Transition to Private Road Industry that we encounter roadblocks (hehe). Walter Block has no notion of middle ground - he talks of the changes as if they will happen all of a sudden, and makes some very questionable points regarding intermediate stages. His premise is that the process of privatization of the already-built roads can be painful at first (true), but that a botched-up privatization job is still better than no privatization - this is a very strong claim and I find it hard to agree with in practice (he does cite Rothbard for this claim, but he should have expanded on it - I mean else the entire book could be cited away, since Block does not really add anything new to the existing set of ideas in libertarian philosophy with this book). He says that those who are in charge of managing roads now should not be allowed to bid in the process of privatization lest all of the control goes straight back to them. How will this forbidding happen? By state intervention? Walter Block gives no answer.
Even worse is the book's fourth part, that deals with Critiques. This part is hopelessly redundant. Repetition is inevitable in a book that is organized as a collection of essays, true, but not if you have entire chapters that could be removed with no reduction in 'substance'. Every possible objection has already been dealt with in the previous parts. All that is accomplished in this part is that Block manages to show the reader that he got sass. But it does not help that the people whose critiques he is responding to come across as inarticulate baboons. That entire exchange with Tullock, which spans 3 damn chapters is simply embarrassing to read. Both of them engage in strawmanship, debating on the nitty-gritties of theoretical arguments than practical concerns.
Plus, Block keeps insisting that the government is criminally responsible for road deaths. In theory, I agree. But to go to the extent of claiming that governments officials ought to be tried in a Nuremberg fashion for these deaths is just insane. Also, why, oh why, did Block have to insert that chapter where he castigates the Reason magazine for advising the state to loosen some restrictions? Block suggests that working with the state to loosen restrictions is bad, since any cooperation with an entity as evil as the government is bad. He draws an analogy that what Reason magazine does is akin to "campaigning for slave-owners to use softer whips".
Libertarians would go much farther in securing more liberty for everyone, if they would not stick to such hard-headed idealism as this. In a world where slavery is widely practiced, advocating for softer whips is indeed a welcome move. This is not contradictory to the higher goal of abolishing slavery altogether. At one point, Block really claims that it is undesirable if such half-measures actually bring improvements to public roads, as that would "offset the goal of fully private road networks by another 100 years". In my opinion, revolutionaries are bad for any ideology - be it liberal or statist. Reforms must happen incrementally, else they will never manifest outside paper in a manner beneficial to all.
September 18, 2017
Great book, and hope more people see the same logical discussion as to why Government monopoly on roads is not a good idea.
October 27, 2021
Walter Block provides an excellent theory as to what would occur if the roads and highways of America were privatized. He covers a wide range of road-related subjects such as congestion, peak load pricing, technological mechanisms for charging for road usage, eminent domain factors, and much more.
December 13, 2018
As stated in the beginning, this is a collection of essays/articles that have been organized into a book. It would have been wonderful to have had Block write it *as a book* instead, since there are necessarily some repeats, and the overall structure and progression of ideas could have been clearer. However, it is still works surprisingly well. As far as I understand, the "who's going to build the roads?" is a common enough question libertarians get, as to be almost a joke. It's interesting to read Block's motivation for privatization in this area, ideas on how to make the transition (which seems to me to be the hardest part), and speculations on how it will work.
August 19, 2025
Los problemas de tráfico, la falta de mantenimiento y los fallecimientos causados por accidentes son comunes, en mayor o menor medida, en todo el mundo. De acuerdo con el autor, estos problemas tienen su origen en que es el Estado quien provee el servicio de las calles y carreteras, y además, en la mayoría de los casos, lo hace a un precio cero. Este interesante libro nos presenta una fascinante discusión sobre las ventajas que tendría un sistema privado de calles, sujeto a la disciplina de la competencia. Si el sistema de mercado y la propiedad privada han demostrado a lo largo de la historia, una y otra vez, ser mucho mejores que la provisión estatal en la producción de bienes y servicios valorados por los consumidores a un costo razonable, ¿por qué no sucedería lo mismo con las vías de comunicación?
Con una lógica impecable, el autor desmonta los argumentos comunes para justificar la provisión estatal de las calles y carreteras, basados en una supuesta falla (o fallas) del mercado, incluyendo el considerar que son bienes públicos (en el sentido económico del término, es decir, que sufren el problema del polizón) y la existencia de externalidades, que deben (¿pueden?) ser corregidas por la acción estatal.
A pesar de que la mayoría de las personas considera natural este estado de cosas, el autor nos invita a pensar que la alternativa es posible. Alguna vez fue impensable que empresas privadas pudieran proveer servicios de telefonía o de correos. Ahora son una realidad, y su servicio es considerablemente superior y cuesta una fracción de lo que costaba cuando estos servicios eran monopolios estatales. Pensar en empresas privadas de infraestructura vial tal vez no sea una idea tan descabellada como parecería.
Con una lógica impecable, el autor desmonta los argumentos comunes para justificar la provisión estatal de las calles y carreteras, basados en una supuesta falla (o fallas) del mercado, incluyendo el considerar que son bienes públicos (en el sentido económico del término, es decir, que sufren el problema del polizón) y la existencia de externalidades, que deben (¿pueden?) ser corregidas por la acción estatal.
A pesar de que la mayoría de las personas considera natural este estado de cosas, el autor nos invita a pensar que la alternativa es posible. Alguna vez fue impensable que empresas privadas pudieran proveer servicios de telefonía o de correos. Ahora son una realidad, y su servicio es considerablemente superior y cuesta una fracción de lo que costaba cuando estos servicios eran monopolios estatales. Pensar en empresas privadas de infraestructura vial tal vez no sea una idea tan descabellada como parecería.
January 8, 2019
A lot of great content with many solid arguments for a free market in general and, of course, for private roads.
Unfortunately, the book is a bit unstructured and repetitive but if you can stand that it's definitely worth a read.
Unfortunately, the book is a bit unstructured and repetitive but if you can stand that it's definitely worth a read.
June 18, 2023
I have to say, I am really disappointed by this book.
The forward by Brad Edmund was fantastic, and even the first 10 or so pages were full of great information, and then it just started devolving in to a very mechanical presentation and the author started to sound like an economist writing a peer reviewed paper than a book for the lay person.
The information is great; there's no doubt about it. Walter Block thoroughly quotes from various books and does a great job of providing citations (which I am hawkish about). But.... the writing just becomes mechanical and I find myself reading and thinking something between "I have no idea what is being discussed here" and "Get to the point, I don't care!".
If you can get past the atrocious writing style (I think that Brad Edmund would have done a much better job based on the forward), then you'll find that the book has a lot of great information and goes in to good detail.
I don't want to dissuade others from reading this, as it's possible that the writing style that I prefer differs from another individual, so while for me this is no more than a 3-star book, for another it may be 4 stars (or even 5 if you can grasp everything that's said).
The forward by Brad Edmund was fantastic, and even the first 10 or so pages were full of great information, and then it just started devolving in to a very mechanical presentation and the author started to sound like an economist writing a peer reviewed paper than a book for the lay person.
The information is great; there's no doubt about it. Walter Block thoroughly quotes from various books and does a great job of providing citations (which I am hawkish about). But.... the writing just becomes mechanical and I find myself reading and thinking something between "I have no idea what is being discussed here" and "Get to the point, I don't care!".
If you can get past the atrocious writing style (I think that Brad Edmund would have done a much better job based on the forward), then you'll find that the book has a lot of great information and goes in to good detail.
I don't want to dissuade others from reading this, as it's possible that the writing style that I prefer differs from another individual, so while for me this is no more than a 3-star book, for another it may be 4 stars (or even 5 if you can grasp everything that's said).
September 6, 2016
From now on, if you're economically to the left of Mises, Rothbard, Menger, Hayek, etc, this is required reading (along with "Economics in One Lesson" by Hazlitt) before you get to talk to me about econ. If you mention Keynes unironically I will punch you in the throat, then you're also going to have to read "The Failure of 'New Economics,'" also by Hazlitt.
If you don't know who any of these people are, that's ok, no big deal, but you probably shouldn't discuss econ seriously with anyone because you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
MUH ROADS!
4/5
If you don't know who any of these people are, that's ok, no big deal, but you probably shouldn't discuss econ seriously with anyone because you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
MUH ROADS!
4/5
June 9, 2009
Blocks arguments are sound and his style fluid and easygoing, but the presentation as a book is somewhat misleading. This is a collection of separate essays, and his argument suffers a little from eventually tedious repetition as a result. This could have been half the length and still presented the same argument in a much clearer way.
Read
July 29, 2011The best available libertarian treatment of roads calling for genuine as opposed to pseudo-privatization in which the state retains a controlling interest. The individual essays are strong but the book as a whole contains a significant amount of redundant material as the same arguments and objections are repeated in many of the separate essays.
April 3, 2016
Quite good. Knocks this common question out of the park, though it could have been better if it weren't a collection of older articles he'd already written. Thus, there was some repetition and less flow. Still, Block's style and powerful logic makes this a great read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews