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David T. Beito

The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society (Economics, Cognition, and Society) Paperback – May 10, 2002

by David T. Beito (Author), Peter Gordon (Author), Alexander Tabarrok (Author)

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The rise and decline of American civic life has provoked wide-ranging responses from all quarters of society. Unfortunately, many proposals for improving our communities rely on renewed governmental efforts without a similar recognition that the inflexibility and poor accountability of governments have often worsened society's ills. The Voluntary City investigates the history of large-scale, private provision of social services, the for-profit provision of urban infrastructure and community governance, and the growing privatization of residential life in the United States to argue that most decentralized, competitive markets can contribute greatly to community renewal.

Among the fascinating topics covered are: how mutual-aid societies in America, Great Britain, and Australia provided their members with medical care, unemployment insurance, sickness insurance, and other social services before the welfare state; how private law, known historically as the law merchant, is returning in the form of arbitration; and why the rise of neighborhood associations represents the most comprehensive privatization occurring in the United States today.

The volume concludes with an epilogue that places the discoveries of The Voluntary City within the theory of market and government failure and discusses the implications of these discoveries for theories about the private provision of public goods. A refreshing challenge to the position that insists government alone can improve community life, The Voluntary City will be of special interest to students of history, law, urban life, economics, and government.

David T. Beito is Associate Professor of History, University of Alabama. Peter Gordon is Professor in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development and Department of Economics, University of Southern California. Alexander Tabarrok is Vice President and Research Director, the Independent Institute.

Print length

480 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Michigan Press
Publication date

May 10, 2002
Dimensions

6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0472088378
ISBN-13

978-0472088379
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Michigan Press; 1St Edition (May 10, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0472088378
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0472088379
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,977,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,960 in United States Local Government
- #2,676 in Nonprofit Organizations & Charities (Books)
- #6,307 in Sociology of Urban Areas

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11 ratings

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David T. Beito

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David T. Beito is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of History at the University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin, and he is the recipient of the Ellis Hawley Prize. Professor Beito is the author of Taxpayers in Revolt: Tax Resistance during the Great Depression, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967, and T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, and Civil Rights Pioneer (with Linda Royster Beito).

Former President of the Alabama Scholars Association and Chair of the Alabama State Advisory Committee of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Professor Beito is the Founder of the “Liberty and Power” blog at the History News Network.

An urban and social historian, Professor Beito has published in the Journal of Southern History, Journal of Policy History, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Journal of Urban History, The Independent Review, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, Journal of Firearms and Public Policy, and other scholarly journals. And, his popular articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Perspectives, History News Network, National Review, Reason, and elsewhere.

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Mr. D. H. Lipschitz

The world without government interference.

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is an incredible book, showing how the world once worked and how it can work again, without too much government interference.

Governments are necessary, but IMHO, they don't need to do everything. Lots of things, for example, heath, security, education, zoning, etc, can be for better (cheaper, more effective) looked after privately.

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2018

Verified Purchase

Fascinating detail and covers many topics. Interesting historical details.

Helpful

Mike Renzulli

Private Alternatives to Government Services

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2005

Back in the mid to late 90's I had the pleasure of reading a new version of a book written by David Friedman called "The Machinery of Freedom" which was originally published in the 1970's. Prior to this review I had the opportunity to read the libertarian classic "The Market for Freedom" written by Morris and Linda Tannehill was one of the first books to introduce the concepts of a voluntary society in print.

While I am not sold on anarcho-capitalism, Friedman's book introduced me to anarcho-capitalist ideas and now, years later, thanks to David T. Beito and the Independent Institute, "The Voluntary City" is published that confirms many of the thoughts and ideas Friedman and the Tanehills wrote about in their treatises.

This book is a collection of policy pieces done by different authors that detail specific, present and past real-life examples of free market alternatives to things like court systems and litigation, education, police, housing and welfare. Most of whom were provided by insurance plans people purchased or services provided by private, charitable organizations people belonged to while governments, by and large, stayed out of the way.

One aspect of the book that was not pointed out was private fire departments. Despite them being provided by municipalities, to this day most fire departments in the U.S. are staffed almost entirely by volunteers. Prior to being run by governments, many fire departments were privately provided in which their funding came from insurance plans they particpated in that provided fire protection for their customers. It wasn't until after the civil war that municipalities started acquiring, starting and operating them.

Even today, governments are beginning to privatize many essential services since they have become too costly to run.

For example Arizona-based Rural Metro Corporation has contracts with cities and counties across the country to provide fire and ambulatory services for municipalities that will not or cannot afford to provide them.

Despite this one subject left out, I felt this book was very well done and I heartily recommend it to people who have doubts about private alternatives to government services or to those who are looking for new, radical ideas to replace the monopolies governments have on services they presently provide.

28 people found this helpful

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Christopher Jones

You aren't the only one who wonders...

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2004

You're not the only one that wonders whether the government that is supposed to guarantee your private property rights seems more interested in making sure your vinyl siding runs the same way as your neighbor's. This is the way of things in America today, where municipal governments segregate business from housing, then wonder why everyone thinks he has to own a car.
Enter the Voluntary City, a cogent and realistic analysis of how we got here, and whether we have actually improved things in doing it. There used to be sufficient housing (try to find the word "homeless" before the Carter presidency), and police that actually had to catch the bad guys (read about one police force that had a catch rate of over 90%), and the reasonable expectation that if you wanted to alter your property you could do so without groveling to the city fathers. We gave these things up in the hope that what we would get back would be better. But is it? Really?
You aren't the only one that wonders. This excellent book provides some answers to the question, and the impetus to take those answers out into the political world. We're doing it where I am.

47 people found this helpful

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Divinorum

Great shipping time and product

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2012

The product was shipped and received promptly. The quality was as stated in the listing description. So far the book is an interesting read and I highly recommend it.

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Kate

RE volunteer firefighters

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2011

RE an earlier reviewer's example of volunteer fire departments... one of the reasons that cities professionalized their fire departments is that the volunteers were not always so helpful - they were paid by the value of what they saved, so competing teams would show up at the same fire, and end up fighting with each other for the prize while the building burned. Or they simply wouldn't bother with low-value fires. Firehouses of the period are interesting, culturally - kind of a men's clubhouse - precursor to fraternal lodges.

4 people found this helpful

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The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society (Economics, Cognition, and Society) Paperback – May 10, 2002

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