A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism

A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism is a treatise published in 1989 by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an economist of anarcho-capitalist leanings and a disciple of Murray Rothbard, though he also studied under Jürgen Habermas. The book grounds self-ownership and private property in the ethics of argumentation, a principle derived from Habermas. Hoppe defines a contract as the consensual use of another's property, aggression as its non-consensual use, and capitalism as the institutionalized respect for property rights and contracts.

On this basis, socialism is understood as an institutionalized disregard for, or aggression against, those rights. The work examines, with historical examples, four variants: Soviet-style, social-democratic, conservative and technocratic or neoliberal socialism, and compares them with a full private-property order. It also considers the political forces and groups that benefit from each model and the damage they do to capital and social capital. Toward the end it discusses the doctrine of public goods and the prospects of a pure capitalist order in which state functions are performed by private insurers and defense firms. The book helped establish Hoppe as a leading figure in anarcho-capitalism, second only to Rothbard.