Download pdf
Public Goods in a Stateless Society: Exploring the Austrian School's Theory Through Kowloon Walled City
- 1 School of Management, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper examines the case of Kowloon Walled City, using it as a practical demonstration of the Austrian School's a priori theoretical framework while refuting the mainstream economic view that government intervention is necessary to supply public goods and maximize welfare. Kowloon Walled City, which existed as an anarchic enclave until its demolition in 1993, offers a compelling example of how a community can meet its collective needs—ranging from property protection to social services and sanitation—without governmental oversight. The residents achieved comprehensive satisfaction through voluntary cooperation, fully exercising their rights to person and property. This analysis contributes to the broader discussion of public goods provision, a fundamental source of government legitimacy, and argues that government intervention often proves less efficient than non-intervention, highlighting the relevance of Austrian economic theory in practical settings.
Keywords
Austrian School, public goods, Kowloon Walled City, government intervention, protection of private property
[1]. Qing Han. (2022) A Study on the Evolution of Western Public Goods Theory. Central University of Finance and Economics.
[2]. Haijiu Zhu. (2021) The Real Market - From the Perspective of Action and Rules. Shanghai. SDX Joint Publishing Company.
[3]. Hans-Hermann Hoppe. (2001) Democracy:The god that failed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publisher.
[4]. Edited by Guangdong Provincial Archives. (2007.11) Selected Historical Materials from the Kowloon Walled City Archives in Hong Kong. Beijing. China Archives Press.
[5]. Greg Girard, Ian Lambot. (2015) City of Darkness: Day and Night in the Kowloon Walled City. Hong Kong. Chung Hwa Book Company (Hong Kong) Limited.
[6]. Barrie Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz, Thomas Kvan. (2013.5) The Making of Hong Kong: From Vertical to Volumetric. Beijing. Publishing House of Electronics Industry.
[7]. Friedrich August von Hayek. (2022) Law, Legislation and Liberty. Beijing. Encyclopedia of China Publishing House.
[8]. Zhiming Liu. (2006) The theory of public goods as the basis of government economic activity – reflections of the Austrian school. Journal of Hubei University of Economics (05):28-33.
[9]. Zhiming Liu. (2002) Microeconomic Intervention: Theoretical Basis and Institutional Boundaries. South China Normal University
[10]. Jin lu. (2002) History of Kowloon Walled City. Hong Kong. Joint Publishing (Hong Kong) Company Limited.
Cite this article
Fang,Z. (2024). Public Goods in a Stateless Society: Exploring the Austrian School's Theory Through Kowloon Walled City. Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences,144,17-23.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of ICFTBA 2024 Workshop: Finance's Role in the Just Transition
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).