Kindle Price: $2.99

Save $16.01 (84%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Walter Block
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Case for Discrimination (LvMI) Kindle Edition

by Walter Block (Author), Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
See all formats and editions
Walter Block has been writing on the economics of discrimination — and in defense of discrimination, rightly understood — for more than 30 years. The Case for Discrimination collects nearly all of this writing to present a radical alternative to the mainstream view.

His thesis is that discrimination — choosing one thing over another — is an inevitable feature of the material world where scarcity of goods and time is the pervasive feature. There is no getting around it. You must discriminate, and therefore you must have the freedom to discriminate, which only means the freedom to choose. Without discrimination, there is no economizing taking place. It is chaos.

The market embeds institutions that assist people in making the wisest possible choices given the alternatives. In this sense, discrimination is rational and socially optimal. For the state to presume to criminalize it based on social and political priorities amounts to a subversion of the market and of human liberty that leads to social conflict.

The empirical detail in this work is as rigorous as the argument is radical. What politics regards as a dangerous inequality, Block regards as perfectly rational given existing realities.

In essence, Block's book is a specialized application of the libertarian perspective on society, as applied to a particular controversy in our times. It is supremely rare in tackling this issue head on, and offering a no-compromise alternative: abolish all antidiscrimination law on grounds that it makes no economic sense and only generates conflict where none need exist.

Will this book cause controversy? Most assuredly. But that it is not its goal. Its goal is the uprooting of a flawed and failed social theory and its replacement by a realistic one that is rooted in a genuine concern for human rights and the good of all.

To search for Mises Institute titles, enter a keyword and LvMI (short for Ludwig von Mises Institute); e.g., Depression LvMI
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    586 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    September 22, 2011
  5. File size
    1232 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005P1ZFB8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ludwig von Mises Institute (September 22, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 22, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1232 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 586 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Walter Block

Walter Block

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Erik The Red
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes a very intelligent and rational case
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2014
Verified Purchase
Shows some examples of the need for discriminatory actions. Makes rational and intellectual sense in an easy to read short essay format. Many articles on many topics help you read it in short chunks and never get bogged down
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
LawAbidingCitizen
4.0 out of 5 stars Be prepared to have some of your views challenged!
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2016
Verified Purchase
By the end of the book you can see how there are advantages to viewing human affairs through the lens of a Economist. The discussion on the Gay Scout leader and the differing opinions of the courts was a excellent example on conflicting views.

The sources in the Bibliography are worth looking into for further discussion on the topic.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Nathan Kreider
5.0 out of 5 stars I highly recommend!
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2017
I've found that when it comes to reading academic essays, those by Walter Block are the only ones I can read with incredible ease. The title is intentionally provocative, but at the same time delivers exactly as promised. Dr. Block is one of the few people that can take an idea far outside the Overton Window and make the logical case for it. I highly recommend!
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
timothylord
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting essays; I agree with Block's thrust, and ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
Interesting essays; I agree with Block's thrust, and find the title refreshing. On the other hand (and this is not a knock on any one of the essays, only a reflection of their presentation here), many of them, being written separately and all on the same topic, seem to blur together. I will finish the book, but I suspect that I know how it ends.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report