The Property-Owning Democracy : Freedom and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century

"The ideas of 'predistribution' and the property-owning democracy have recently emerged as the central features of the progressive social liberal response to the problems of poverty, unemployment, economic insecurity, burgeoning socio-economic inequality, and economic instability, none of which the more familiar institutions of welfare state capitalism seem able effectively to solve. These social liberal proposals for institutional reform have, however, been rejected by 'neo-classical' liberals who have attempted to modernize and revitalize the traditional classical liberal case for a set of 'market democratic' laissez-faire institutions. This book makes a fresh attempt to demarcate an area of common ground between the positions occupied by classical and social liberals by identifying a set of institutional arrangements to which both can agree, while at the same time recognizing that there will be many important issues about which liberal (and non-liberal) political and social thinkers will continue strongly to disagree. Drawing on ideas and arguments identifiable within a particular branch of the left-libertarian tradition, the book develops market democratic interpretations of the ideas of predistribution and the property-owning democracy, and presents a powerful case for an institutional reform which constitutes a genuinely progressive alternative to more familiar social democratic institutions. By identifying progressive predistributive institutions as essential conditions both for the effective protection of 'market freedom' and for the maximization of the substantive opportunities of the least advantaged members of society, the book shows how these institutions may be justified on grounds which both classical and social liberals may reasonably be expected to endorse."--Provided by publisher Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Three Traditions of Liberal Political Thought -- The Limitations of the Classical and Social Liberal Traditions -- The Promise of Geo-Classical Liberalism -- 1 Classical Liberalism and the Idea of Market Freedom -- Introduction -- Isaiah Berlin: Negative Liberty and the Idea of Market Freedom -- Friedrich Hayek: Private Property and Market Freedom -- Milton Friedman: Capitalism and Orthodox Market Freedom -- Richard Epstein: Orthodox Market Freedom Explicitly but Inadequately Defended -- Conclusion -- 2 Social Liberalism and the Rejection of Market Freedom -- Introduction -- The 'New Liberalism' -- Social Liberalism and the De-Prioritization of Market Freedom -- The Social Liberal Rejection of the Very Idea of 'Market Freedom' -- 3 Geo-Libertarianism: The Prioritization of Unorthodox Market Freedom -- Introduction -- Classical Political Economy and the Idea of the Socialization of Rent -- Geo-Libertarianism and Market Freedom -- A Critical Assessment of the Geo-Classical Theory of Distribution -- From Geo-Libertarianism to Geo-Liberalism -- 4 Justice as Fairness and the Priority of Substantive Opportunity -- Introduction -- Neo-Classical Liberalism, Economic Exceptionalism, and the Priority of Liberty -- Growth, Opportunity, and Perfectionism -- Constitutionalism, Indeterminacy, and Ideal Theory -- 5 Liberal Socialism and the Right to Private Property -- Introduction -- Liberal Socialism and the Right to Private Property -- The Self-Limiting Character of the Right to Private Property -- The Fragmentation of Property and the Idea of Quasi-Private Ownership -- 6 The Market Democratic Property-Owning Democracy -- Introduction -- Orthodox Laissez-Faire Capitalism versus the Market Democratic Property-Owning Democracy