ABSTRACT
The case for a free economy would be so much more effective if it were generally stated in less question-begging terms. The instinctive aversion which every believer in a free economy feels about admitting this, is only too understandable. It seems as if, once one abandons the opposition against all government interference, one has let in the thin end of the wedge and there is no way of stopping its spread. The only meaning of arbitrariness is action which is not in conformity with a general rule which applies equally to all. It is fairly obvious that most of the controls of economic life which are nowadays employed in the service of government ‘planning’ could not be enforced if the powers of government were restricted to carrying out fixed general rules.
