How a lot have you learnt about Bruno Leoni? Friedrich Hayek credited Bruno Leoni with shaping his concepts on legal guidelines and laws. James Buchanan stated that Leoni recognized issues that led to his personal work on public selection. How is it potential, then, that so few of us know of the groundbreaking Italian political thinker? But it surely appears, effectively, we don’t speak about Bruno…
EconTalk fan fav Mike Munger and host Russ Roberts got down to change this in their latest dialog about Leoni. Munger begins by recounting Leoni’s eventful, “frenetic” life. A political thinker, Leoni taught a post-war course known as “Doctrine of the State,” which Munger describes as extra like doctrine of freedom and regulation. Certainly Munger believes it to have been a “signpost” alongside the best way to each Austrian economics and public selection.
Leoni shared the lecture stage with Hayek and Friedman (certainly this was the origin of his Freedom and the Regulation). He was an early and lively member of the Mont Pelerin Society, and he was elected its second president simply earlier than his demise. Regardless of his premature demise, Leoni had a major affect on three completely different elements of what we now consider as mainstream classical liberal scholarship- 1. Hayek’s distinction between regulation and laws, 2. James Buchanan’s identification of issues with political consent and political authority, and three. the regulation and economics motion.
Let’s flip to the legacy of Leoni, and START speaking about him. After listening to the episode, we encourage you to ponder the questions under, and much more that you just’ll take time to share your responses within the feedback.
1- Munger tells us that F.A. Hayek attributed his well-known distinction between regulation and laws to Leoni. What is that this distinction, and the way does Munger clarify the variations in Hayek’s conception to that of Leoni? Resides in a world of extra legal guidelines (relative to laws) to be desired? Why or why not? (And lest we encourage Munger’s wrath, what position do transaction prices play in your reply?)
2- What are the three traits Munger describes as comprising Leoni’s conception of the rule of regulation? Why does Munger say that in Leoni’s superb system, “If the system is operating properly, there are no cases that come before a judge?”
3- How is Leoni’s conception of the rule of regulation completely different from the kind Roberts describes (~44 minutes)? What position is there for custom or precedent in Leoni’s superb, and to what extent do you discover this position adequate?
4- What are the issues with [written] regulation as Roberts recounts? To what extent do you see Leoni’s principle, as recounted by Munger, as addressing these issues? Why, underneath Leoni’s purported system, would judges not have to be skilled in jurisprudence or fear about precedent?
5- Roberts and Munger shut with a dialogue of universality, one of many traits of the rule of regulation for Leoni. They notice the “Golden Rule” as one in all its extra frequent iterations. What’s the drawback with this iteration in keeping with Munger? (Trace: he says it’s not do unto others as you would have them do unto you., and it’s additionally the half that Hayek leaves out.)
