Private defense agency

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A private defense agency (PDA) is a hypothetical agency that provides defense voluntarily through the free market. A PDA is not subsidised through obligatory taxation and does not rely on conscription and other intrusive means of support. Proposals for private defense agencies and similar bodies have been made by Anarcho-capitalists and other libertarians. Within economics, discussion of the concept has largely been confined to the Austrian School.

PDAs work in concert with other agencies such as insurance companies and arbitration agencies, and would have a different set of motives than standard statist defense agencies. Their survival depends on the quality of service leading to a wide customer base, rather than the ability to extract funds via the force of law.

Anarcho-capitalists see the state as illegitimate and therefore consider defense as something that individuals should have the ability to provide or decide for themselves. The Mises Institute published a book of essays with the title The Myth of National Defense: Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production. The Mises Review (Vol. 10, No. 1; Spring 2004). A summary is given in a review by David Gordon, [1].