Great post by Sheldon Richman:
Anarchists vs. Minarchists: The Defining Economic Difference
The crux of the economic difference between market anarchists and market minarchists is that the minarchists — a priori — find a market failure in the provision of law and security. Market anarchists do not. Considering that the minarchists embrace market theory in every other area, it seems they have the burden of showing why their own principles don’t apply in those excepted areas. (It is significant that the first market anarchist we know of was an economist, Gustave de Molinari.)
Market anarchists have the theory, the history, and the moral philosophy. What’s left?
LABELS: ANARCHISM, MINARCHISM
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See also Manuel Lora’s comments on another post here: “I think it’s awesome that minarchsits are being challenged. They hate to be called statists. They either think that the state is not an aggressor or that it’s necessary to have (lest we have chaos!) or something equally flaky. They are principled (more or less) but not at the core.”
