Walter Block 101: Discover the Anarcho-Capitalist Economist

Walter Block is an American Austrian School economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist. He currently holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at the Business School of Loyola University in New Orleans and is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a non-profit think tank in Auburn, Alabama.

He is best known for his 1976 book, “Defending the Undefendable,” which defends actions that are often considered illegal or unacceptable, but which Block argues are victimless crimes or beneficial to society. If you’re interested in discovering more about Walter Block, we recommend checking out our article on Zatrun.com.

Who is Walter Block?

Walter Block is an economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist known for his unconventional views. He holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at Loyola University’s Business School and is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a non-profit think tank based in Alabama. He is most known for his book “Defending the Undefendable,” which was published in 1976 and defends actions that are considered illegal or immoral, but which Block argues are harmless or beneficial to society.

Walter Block was raised in Brooklyn, New York, by his Jewish parents, Abraham Block (a CPA) and Ruth Block (a legal assistant). He completed his high school education at James Madison High School, where he was on Bernie Sanders’ track team. He earned his PhD in economics from Columbia University, where he wrote his thesis on rent control in the United States under the supervision of Gary Becker. Block describes himself as a “revolutionary atheist.”

Walter Block and Some of His Ideas

In an interview, Walter Block said, “In the 1950s and 1960s, I was just a communist in Brooklyn.” He recounted how he became a libertarian after attending a lecture by Ayn Rand as a college student. He later had lunch with Rand, Nathaniel Branden, and Leonard Peikoff, and Branden recommended that Block read “Atlas Shrugged” and “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt.

Block also cites his friendship with Murray Rothbard as a contributing factor to his shift towards libertarianism. Unlike followers of the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand, Block is an anarcho-capitalist who opposes limited or minimal government, although he still considers himself a fan of Rand and believes that “Atlas Shrugged” is the “best novel ever written.”

Defending the Undefendable

In addition to “Defending the Undefendable,” Walter Block has authored many other books on economics and libertarianism. The book has been translated into ten different languages. Fox Business Channel commentator John Stossel wrote that Block’s “eye-opening” book inspired him to shed light on what he calls “the common sense that conventional wisdom overlooks” in economics.