Oct 01 2008
Response to Mr. Merlin Jetton’s Critique of My Essays on Road Privatization – Part 2
When responding to my article, “How to Privatize the Roads: The Mechanisms and Benefits of Road Privatization,” Mr. Merlin Jetton rightly pointed out that not all Roman roads that were built lasted for 2000 years and that some of them were specifically designed to be temporary. Moreover, Roman roads were not always built under “free-market” conditions, and their construction often employed slave and conscript labor. I grant all of this, but my point with regard to Roman roads did not rule out some of their shortcomings. Rather, I simply wished to emphasize that the technology for building permanent roads has existed for a long time, and one would expect today’s technology to be far superior to any methods the Romans had. And yet, despite the massive technological superiority and continuing advances of our time, road quality in places like Chicago continues to be dismal. I wonder why, and I see no answer besides government intervention and favoritism.
Sincerely,
Gennady Stolyarov II
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