INTERPRETING VOLUNTARY EXCHANGE: MARKETS, SPEECH ACTS AND COMMUNICATIVE ACTION

This paper uses speech act theory to present a libertarian reinterpretation of the Haberrnasian concept of communicative action. Voluntary exchange in competitive markets is interpreted as a speech act and a form of communicative action that respects autonomy and obstructs power Where exchange occurs in monopolistic markets, it is defective in being a form of (a) strategic action aimed directly at rival suppliers rather than buyers and (b) economic coercion. Voluntary exchange is not an isolated act but the outcome of a complex bargaining process, which may lead to negotiated exit, without the possibility of which economic relations are coercive.