According to the conventional wisdom, road transportation would be highly inefficient without the government’s power of eminent domain, because property owners could refuse to sell their property at the government’s asking price. In reality, there are strong grounds for thinking that private, for-profit road companies would have fewer problems with holdouts and few problems as severe as that of government failure in road transportation.
Bruce L. Benson is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and DeVoe L. Moore Professor and Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Economics, Florida State University.
Civil Liberties and Human RightsEconomyFree Market EconomicsHousing and HomelessnessLand UseLaw and LibertyPrivatizationProperty Rights, Land Use, and ZoningRegulation
Other Independent Review articles by Bruce L. Benson
Winter 2014/15 The New Scarlett Letter?: Negotiating the U.S. Labor Market with a Criminal Record
Fall 2014 Let’s Focus on Victim Justice, Not Criminal Justice
Winter 2007/08 The Evolution of Eminent Domain: Market Failure or an Effort to Limit Government Power and Government Failure?
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