“for in appropriating previously unowned resources nothing is taken away from others. Others could have appropriated these resources, too, if they had considered them valuable. Yet, they demonstrably did not do so. Indeed, their failure to appropriate them demonstrates their preference for not appropriating them. Thus, they cannot possibly be said to have lost any utility as a result of another’s appropriation. Proceeding from the basis of acts of original appropriation, any further act, whether of production or consumption is equally Pareto-superior on demonstrated preference grounds, provided that it does not affect the physical integrity of the resources appropriated or produced with appropriated means by others. The producer–consumer is better off, while everyone else is left in control of the same quantity of goods as before. As a result, no one can be said to be worse off. Finally, every voluntary exchange of goods proceeding from this basis is a Pareto-superior change as well, because it can only take place if both exchange parties expect to benefit from it, while the supply of goods controlled in action (owned) by others remains unchanged. See further on this Murray N. Rothbard, “Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare”
Democracy – The God That Failed
Hans-Hermann Hoppe