Or what if I did? After all, animal-rights activists don't play by the rules. If they did, they could decide that the population of a particular species is too sparse, and if they wanted to increase its numbers or preserve them, nobody would stop them from buying the property the animal is on and caging it or fencing it off. If somebody already owns the land on which the animals resides, the activist could bid for the animal in question; either way, the market has for 'endangered species,' like every other valuable commodity, a solution that doesn't involve anybody having to compel anybody else with a big stick made of solid fiat.
Instead, animal-rights activists lobby intensely for the preservation of these animals, which involves zoning and restrictive property rules. This only hampers the intensification of the division of labor, drives the price of surrounding land up, and at the end of the day, we're all subsidizing the valuables that nobody really values, at least not enough to buy those valuables themselves.
So, I've decided to take it upon myself to hunt down endangered species of all kinds. If animal-rights activists don't want to play by the rules of the market, which is a system based on mutual cooperation and peaceful exchange, then I certainly won't play by their statist rules. If they don't have anything to protect anymore, maybe they'll leave the rest of us peaceful market participants alone. I'm going to hunt bald eagle, red wolf, polar bear, Florida cougar, African elephant, and any other specie I can get my shells in. Endangered plants aren't exempt from a good weed-wacking and a dose of NaOH, either. It'll be great fun, all at the statist's expense.
What'd your econ teacher tell you about unintended consequences when fooling around in the market?
*Update: Check this out. Turns out what I described above is a third degree felony in the state of Florida, subjecting me to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years.
Let's do it.
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