Mr. Kinsella is both an internationally recognized scholar on libertarian legal theory and a former Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute. The Mises Institute’s purpose is to promote teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. In the foreword to Stephan’s most recent book, Legal Foundations of a Free Society, the great Austrian economist Hans-Hermann Hoppe said, “Henceforth, then, all essential studies in the philosophy of law and the field of legal theory will have to take full account of the theories and criticisms expounded by Kinsella.” Stephan will be introducing Austrian economics that is in part shaped by the rare insights one can only get as a scholar and insider.
This is my first talk on a purely economic topic. I tried not to dumb it down but also not talk over people’s heads, but I only had 45 minutes. This is the recording I made on my iphone. [continue reading…]
Stephan Kinsella is a pioneer on the topic of intellectual property (IP). His arguments against IP also carry over to the cyberspace. Can you even “own” Bitcoin? After all, it is just a number on an elliptic curve…
“Q – can you have a valid contract over things that don’t exist?
and especially if there’s no property title being transferred?
like it’s buying the idea of a kilometre? or a ‘rare sat’?”
Okay here’s how others might say: there is no thing to transfer so the contract is null and void, or something like that. That is because they think of contract as some kind of independent thing—a relationship, a legal “obligation.” And that one of the effects of a contract is that someone gets title to something that they agreed to, etc etc. This view of contract also thinks of the parties as being obligated to each other, and if they don’t perform their obligation they are in breach and owe damages, etc. [continue reading…]
Q: If I sign something that says “this person is allowed to kill me under xyz circumstances and he is owed $10 from my estate if he fulfills this” and, assuming I never renege, those circumstances arise and the person kills me, would the thing I signed be a valid defense against murder charges in a free society and/or an enforceable claim against the estate?
Kinsella:
I think in a free society, it would be a defense because it would indicate consent. (And yes, the estate owed the $10.)
A facebook friend from Brazil, Bruno Pires, corresponded with me about some various issues and we decided to discuss it for a podcast episode. We discuss a variety of issues.
I was a guest on Episode 316 of The Bob Murphy Show, entitled “Stephan Kinsella on Rothbard’s Contributions to Legal Theory.” Bob’s shownotes: “Stephan joins Bob to discuss his new book, Legal Foundations of a Free Society. They cover Rothbard’s contributions to legal theory, as well as Bob and Stephan’s differing entry points into libertarianism.”
Matthew Sands of the Nations of Sanity project, which aims to promote the Non-Aggression Principle as a universal peace agreement, and I discussed various issues including: immigration and open borders, and so on.
This is my presentation, “An Insider’s Introduction to Austrian Economics,” Bastiat Society—Houston, American Institute for Economic Research, The Briar Club, Houston Texas (May 2, 2024). From their shownotes:
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