Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski – författare

According to the standard position of the economic mainstream, the efficient production of so-called public goods, including law and defense, requires the use of territorial monopolies of coercive force. Two arguments are put forward for this position: a "positive" one, based on the claim that only such institutions can successfully supply society with crucial public goods, and a "negative" one, based on the claim that such institutions by themselves constitute inevitable "public bads".This book challenges this assumption by utilizing the insights of the Austrian School of Economics, New Institutionalism, constitutional political economy, and other heterodox economic approaches, combined with economically informed ethical analysis. It puts forward a positive case for voluntary social organization that offers new insights into the intersection of economic logic, social philosophy, institutional analysis, and the theory of entrepreneurship. In other words, in an attempt to draw on the interdisciplinary spirit of classical political economy, this book aims at providing a comprehensive economic and ethical case for extending the applicability of voluntary, entrepreneurial cooperation to the realm of creating and sustaining legal and protective services together with attendant institutional frameworks.

According to the standard position of the economic mainstream, the efficient production of so-called public goods, including law and defense, requires the use of territorial monopolies of coercive force. Two arguments are put forward for this position: a "positive" one, based on the claim that only such institutions can successfully supply society with crucial public goods, and a "negative" one, based on the claim that such institutions by themselves constitute inevitable "public bads".This book challenges this assumption by utilizing the insights of the Austrian School of Economics, New Institutionalism, constitutional political economy, and other heterodox economic approaches, combined with economically informed ethical analysis. It puts forward a positive case for voluntary social organization that offers new insights into the intersection of economic logic, social philosophy, institutional analysis, and the theory of entrepreneurship. In other words, in an attempt to draw on the interdisciplinary spirit of classical political economy, this book aims at providing a comprehensive economic and ethical case for extending the applicability of voluntary, entrepreneurial cooperation to the realm of creating and sustaining legal and protective services together with attendant institutional frameworks.

Between plain resourcefulness and full-blooded entrepreneurship lies a middle ground of proactivity which, as this book argues, is a concept that allows economists to make better sense of activity where an individual takes greater agency over their personal outcomes through the existing employment or additional activity. In this way, proactivity can help economists develop greater understanding of undervalued or understudied areas such as employee self-initiative, protean career orientation, gig contracting, and prosumer activism. In theoretical terms: if economics is perceived as the investigation of the logic of human action, this book presents the case for the concept of proactivity being seen as a vital aspect of the process whereby economic agents bring about more desirable states of affairs with the use of scarce means. Through their proactiveness, individuals can combine several conventionally defined economic roles (e.g., conscious consumers and independent producers or frontline workers and quasi-entrepreneurs) and sources of income (e.g. regular wages and performance-based quasi-profits or regular wages and minority shareholder profits). In turn, this makes it possible to identify previously underappreciated sources of economic growth and furnishes additional arguments against ideas - such as economic nationalism - whose implementation is likely to stunt the productive potential of individuals. This book will be of interest to readers in economic theory, entrepreneurship, economic development, and behavioral economics.

Between plain resourcefulness and full-blooded entrepreneurship lies a middle ground of proactivity which, as this book argues, is a concept that allows economists to make better sense of activity where an individual takes greater agency over their personal outcomes through the existing employment or additional activity. In this way, proactivity can help economists develop greater understanding of undervalued or understudied areas such as employee self-initiative, protean career orientation, gig contracting, and prosumer activism. In theoretical terms: if economics is perceived as the investigation of the logic of human action, this book presents the case for the concept of proactivity being seen as a vital aspect of the process whereby economic agents bring about more desirable states of affairs with the use of scarce means. Through their proactiveness, individuals can combine several conventionally defined economic roles (e.g., conscious consumers and independent producers or frontline workers and quasi-entrepreneurs) and sources of income (e.g. regular wages and performance-based quasi-profits or regular wages and minority shareholder profits). In turn, this makes it possible to identify previously underappreciated sources of economic growth and furnishes additional arguments against ideas - such as economic nationalism - whose implementation is likely to stunt the productive potential of individuals. This book will be of interest to readers in economic theory, entrepreneurship, economic development, and behavioral economics.

Between plain resourcefulness and full-blooded entrepreneurship lies a middle ground of proactivity which, as this book argues, is a concept that allows economists to make better sense of activity where an individual takes greater agency over their personal outcomes through the existing employment or additional activity. In this way, proactivity can help economists develop greater understanding of undervalued or understudied areas such as employee self-initiative, protean career orientation, gig contracting, and prosumer activism. In theoretical terms: if economics is perceived as the investigation of the logic of human action, this book presents the case for the concept of proactivity being seen as a vital aspect of the process whereby economic agents bring about more desirable states of affairs with the use of scarce means. Through their proactiveness, individuals can combine several conventionally defined economic roles (e.g., conscious consumers and independent producers or frontline workers and quasi-entrepreneurs) and sources of income (e.g. regular wages and performance-based quasi-profits or regular wages and minority shareholder profits). In turn, this makes it possible to identify previously underappreciated sources of economic growth and furnishes additional arguments against ideas – such as economic nationalism – whose implementation is likely to stunt the productive potential of individuals. This book will be of interest to readers in economic theory, entrepreneurship, economic development, and behavioral economics.

This book contains a collection of aphorisms grouped into six sets of topics, all related to the overarching topic of liberty and useful in highlighting its various facets.Liberty is the central element of human nature. It is the essence of will, the source of creativity, and a prerequisite of virtue. As such, it is also the driving force of civilization and the foundation of any working society. And yet, being an abstract concept, its precise nature is often inadequately understood. This is unfortunate, since, while liberty can work its miracles when used by those who understand it only on an intuitive level, it remains fragile until it is comprehended on a deeper, philosophical level as well.Luckily, there exists a substantial literature whose aim is to promote this second, more robust kind of understanding. This book aspires to contribute to the literature in question, especially to this branch of it that puts particular emphasis on the pithiness and lucidity of the conveyed message. This is where the form of aphorism, with its motto of maximum content in minimum space, becomes particularly useful, especially given the information age's healthy preference for brevity. The beauty of an aphorism is that it does not have to sacrifice brevity for depth, just as liberty does not have to sacrifice efficiency for equity: their best features reinforce one another rather than being opposed. Perhaps in this sense liberty is the most aphoristic of human qualities and the aphorism is the most libertarian of literary forms. In other words, perhaps the message of liberty – the pith of our life – is particularly well suited to be conveyed in a literary form that, at its best, is as pithy as it is lively. This book puts this proposition to the test.