Oct 16, 2007
More thoughts on Laissez-Faire Books
The closing of LFB is very sad indeed, but it does contain a bright spot I'll note below. LFB served two important purposes in my development as a libertarian and as a scholar, one as a college student and one as a professional.
As a college student, it was THE intellectual lifeline to libertarianism in the pre-internet days. These young whippersnappers with their Internets, and Googles, and online resources have it so easy today when they want to have libertarian ideas at their fingertips. In the old days, we had to actually wait for a paper catalog, dial a dial phone and wait for delivery in the regular mail! More seriously, without LFB, my ability to find, read, and digest libertarian ideas in college, when they were scarce in the curriculum, would have been much reduced.
As a professional, LFB's willingness to carry academic titles at reduced prices served me well both as a reader and as an author. Price discrimination is a beautiful thing and LFB made it work for both authors and readers. If nothing else, this will be one of the great losses of its demise.
Finally, we can take some comfort in the fact that LFB is going out of business because of the technological and institutional improvements that more competitive markets have brought forth. Losing LFB hurts, but the book market is much better than it used to be and libertarian books are very accessible through other means. It is the very ideas that LFB has promoted over the years that are the indirect cause of its demise. Ignorant critics of libertarianism would call that "ironic." I would call it progress, with the recognition that all economic progress brings losses in its wake.
Thanks for everything LFB - Howie, Andrea, Kathleen and, of course, Roy.
As a college student, it was THE intellectual lifeline to libertarianism in the pre-internet days. These young whippersnappers with their Internets, and Googles, and online resources have it so easy today when they want to have libertarian ideas at their fingertips. In the old days, we had to actually wait for a paper catalog, dial a dial phone and wait for delivery in the regular mail! More seriously, without LFB, my ability to find, read, and digest libertarian ideas in college, when they were scarce in the curriculum, would have been much reduced.
As a professional, LFB's willingness to carry academic titles at reduced prices served me well both as a reader and as an author. Price discrimination is a beautiful thing and LFB made it work for both authors and readers. If nothing else, this will be one of the great losses of its demise.
Finally, we can take some comfort in the fact that LFB is going out of business because of the technological and institutional improvements that more competitive markets have brought forth. Losing LFB hurts, but the book market is much better than it used to be and libertarian books are very accessible through other means. It is the very ideas that LFB has promoted over the years that are the indirect cause of its demise. Ignorant critics of libertarianism would call that "ironic." I would call it progress, with the recognition that all economic progress brings losses in its wake.
Thanks for everything LFB - Howie, Andrea, Kathleen and, of course, Roy.