Richard Epstein on Classical Liberalism, Libertarianism, and Lochner

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2014

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

Richard Epstein, of New York University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the differences between classical liberalism and hard-line libertarianism. What is the proper role of the state? Topics discussed include the Constitution, prudent regulation, contract enforcement, intellectual property, and the Supreme Court case, Lochner vs. NY.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host Russ Roberts
0:07.8	of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org or you can subscribe,
0:14.4	comment on this podcast and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.5	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going back
0:23.5	to 2006. Our email address is maladycontalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.
0:32.0	Today is February 11th 2014 and my guest is Richard Epstein. He is the Lawrence A. Tish Professor
0:38.0	of Law at New York University and the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at Stanford
0:43.3	University's Hoover Institution. His latest book is the classical liberal constitution. Richard
0:49.1	welcome back to econtalk. It's always a pleasure to be here in Russ. Our topic for today is a
0:55.2	philosophical one. It's classical liberalism. I'm in favor of limited government. I want to
1:00.6	know what I should call myself. Sometimes I call myself a classical liberal. It is my preferred
1:05.3	title. Sometimes I call myself a libertarian. Sometimes a small L libertarian to distinguish myself
1:14.5	from a libertarian party. Sometimes I call myself a free market capitalist or a smithian or a
1:19.9	highekian economist and some people call me a right-winger conservative. I don't think I'm either
1:25.6	those things. I want to hear what you are, Richard and why and I'm going to see where I fit in
1:30.4	and what I agree and disagree with. Well, I mean, first of all, there is really a terminological
1:35.3	gulf and this is what I think is the fundamental ambiguity. There are many issues in which
1:40.8	other subjects, the classical liberals and the hard-line libertarians are an agreement and
1:47.1	therefore the differences between them simply disappear when you start to take on many progressive
1:52.3	policies. The grounds on which they may be opposed will differ from group to group but the fact
1:57.2	that the opposition is going to be very strong. So for example, there's neither the classical liberal
2:02.9	nor the libertarian believes that the government ought to support or to prop up any monopoly
	...

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