The Unenforceable Obligations of Self Governance

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Mike Downey: This is a magnificent essay. It gets at many ideas and concepts we've talked about many times on the program. The theme of self governance is one that comes down to us through the ages in political economy and in moral philosophy. We try to design institutions that make myself interest actually advance or at least not damage the collective interest, he says.

Civilization and the pleasantness of everyday life depend on unwritten rules. Early in the 20th century, an English mathematician and government official, Lord Moulton, described complying with these rules as "obedience to the unenforceable"--the area of personal choice that falls between illegal acts and complete freedom. Listen as economist Michael Munger talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the power and challenge of the unenforceable.