Co-blogger, Pete Leeson, has been awarded the thirteenth $10,000 award from The Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders for his research on real world examples of private property anarchism and related problems of social organization. As readers of this blog know, this prize is well-deserved.
Pete's research addresses the standard conclusion that under anarchy cooperation tends to break down due to issues of social heterogeneity and differences in physical strength. While existing research on private property anarchy focuses on the importance of reputation for facilitating interactions, Pete broadens his focus to consider alternative coordination-enhancing mechanisms. In addition to reputation, lost business and exit, insurance, bonding, credit sales, and social signaling can also facilitate economic and social interactions in the absent of the state. His main conclusion is that anarchy's power to create widespread order is stronger than usually believed.
You can find Pete's work in this area on his personal website (link on the left). Some his main papers on these topics are here, here, here, here and here.
Please join me in congratulating Pete on this wonderful achievement and for his contributions to our understanding of the feasibility of stateless orders.
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