[marketcorrection] Don Boudreaux: Commerce and Peace

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Posted by Don Boudreaux:
Commerce and Peace
http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1214180149.shtml


   30 January 2008
   Editor, The Washington Times
   Dear Editor:
   War-making being the special talent of the state, Patrick McGinn
   sensibly predicts that war cannot be legislated away (Letters, January
   30). But he incorrectly argues that war reflects basic human nature in
   a world of scarce resources. Virtually all resources are scarce, and
   yet when they are privately owned and tradable in free markets people
   seldom fight each other for access to them. For example, my wife and I
   bought our house peacefully; we didnât have to kill the previous
   owners to get inside. So, too, with all of the other scarce things
   that we consume regularly â water, bread, milk, coffee, chicken, wine,
   hotel rooms, you name it: each of these things is scarce and in high
   demand, and yet people in market economies almost never fight for
   them.
   Extend commerce and you extend peace.
   Sincerely,
   Donald J. Boudreaux
   Chairman, Department of Economics
   George Mason University