After federating with 51 polities, with one round of peaceful federation happening in 2025 and another in 2045, life in the compound republic got real good, for everyone. In 2055, diplomats, politicians, and policymakers from the federation began targeting wealthy provinces and countries for membership, a new development that was sparked in part by an … Continue reading The Federation of Free States: Helping Atlas Shrug
We’re continuing our thought experiment on adding more states to the American republic. Our initial experiment added 29 states to the union in 2025. After a few decades of relative success (the entire world grew economically from 2025 to 2045), the bicameral Congress of free states was willing to accept several new members, who in … Continue reading The Federation of Free States: Growing pains
[…] while we recognize that issues of participation in a coalition involve complex factors, there has been little discussion in the literature from a risk-sharing perspective. It is well-known in financial economics that the pooling of resources and the spreading of risk allows investors to realize a rate of return that approaches the expected rate. … Continue reading “Federations, coalitions, and risk diversification”
I think you make an interesting point, but allow me a bit of push back. The world government would set the rules of how federated entities would interact. This would be like standards and protocols. You are correct that a set of shared standards can allow for enhanced competition, of the good variety (what I … Continue reading Exit, federation, and scale (from the comments)
I’ve recently taken up gardening, in a very amateurish way. Right now I’ve got two plants growing out of a bucket filled with dirt. I water them every day. I talk to them. I rotate them so that different sides face the sun at different times of the day. I spray them with water, too. … Continue reading The importance of gardening, isonomia, federation, and free banking
Yoram Hazony’s 2018 book praising the nation-state has garnered so much attention that I thought it wasn’t worth reading. Arnold Kling changed my mind. I’ve been reading through it, and I don’t think there’s much in the book that I can originally criticize. The one thing I’ll say that others have not is that Hazony’s … Continue reading Hazony’s nation-state versus Christensen’s federation
The most popular article I have ever written, in terms of views, has been, by far, “10 Places that Should Join the U.S.,” a short piece at RealClearHistory pining for an enlarged geographic area under the American constitution. This is not a strange concept for longtime NOL readers. I’ve been pleading for stronger political ties … Continue reading Introducing: the Federation of Free States, an ongoing thought experiment
This is an expanded post that stems from a conversation I have been having with Bruno and Jacques in the ‘comments’ threads. The conversation is more about the nation-state than the unilateralism/federation non-debate, but I thought that’s why it’d make a good post. The Nation-State Nation-states are often considered to be sacred territory to conservative … Continue reading Federation, not unilateralism, ought to be the American Libertarian’s foreign policy
Stay tuned for more on India from a sub-state perspective. I’m going to find the GDP (PPP) per capitas of these states. I’m going to find their population densities. I’m going to find their literacy rates and their life expectancy rates. I’m going to find out much more about India over the coming 12 to … Continue reading Eye Candy: the states in India’s federation
Check out Adam Smith complaining about the rent-seeking that the UK’s North American colonies were practicing back in 1776: The expence of the ordinary peace establishment of the colonies amounted, before the commencement of the present disturbances, to the pay of twenty regiments of foot; to the expence of the artillery, stores, and extraordinary provisions … Continue reading Taxes, Free-riding, and Federation
Dear readers, long time and new, NOL has decided to move. We’re over here now. mckeil foundations of international order debate adam smiths project of an empire the international dimension of the us constitution cutterham world federalism 31YaleJIntlL1 kant federation or republic alternatives to westphalia sharman something-new-out-of-africa-states-made-slaves-slaves-made-states
Houellebecq’s omelette Theodore Dalrymple, First Things Hayek and the Lucas critique David Glasner, Uneasy Money An interesting alternative to federation Maxwell Tabarrok, Maximum Progress (h/t Vishnu)
“Republican political theories and institutions differed sharply from modern theories and models of international relations. Consequently, the history of international politics, the European system of states and state-formation must be re-conceptualized more in line with historical realities.” (pdf) The double life of Adam Smith Kwok Ping Tsang, AdamSmithWorks War at the end of history (Ukraine) … Continue reading Nightcap
“Since it has been argued so far that an essentially liberal economic regime is a necessary condition for the success of any interstate federation, it may be added, in conclusion, that the converse is no less true: the abrogation of national sovereignties and the creation of an effective international order of law is a necessary … Continue reading Hayek the globalist
When Russia invaded Ukraine a few short weeks ago, some people began to worry that China might try to do the same thing with Taiwan. I didn’t worry about this myself, as China is mostly a paper tiger, but also because the US has close military ties with Taiwan. Taiwan has close economic relationships with … Continue reading The case for Taiwan’s statehood
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