A Trinity of Values observed by Australian visitors to a Montana Ranch

Ron Manners, is a successful Australian entrepreneur, a member of the international Mont Pelerin Society, and a strongly committed classical liberal. In 1997 he advanced his good intentions by creating The Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, a free market think tank headquartered in Perth, Western Australia.  

The Foundation awards scholarships to university students in Western Australian.  These competitive awards enable promising students to attend libertarian conferences, participate in international study tours, and have personal experience with classical liberal think tanks and businesses. This year’s tour included environmental topics, usually hard issues for classical liberals and economic conservatives.  

Where is the best place for young scholars to go to understand the conjunction of ecology, prosperity, and liberty?  Bozeman, Montana is the logical and most attractive choice.  Free Market Environmentalism was developed at MSU.  (Among economists Free Market Environmentalism is called the New Resource Economics.)

In 1970 MSU economics professor Rick Stroup, later chief economist of the U. S. Dept. of Interior, and John Baden, an economic anthropologist with a post-doc in natural resources policy, began applying Public Choice economics to traditional natural resource topics.  These included forestry, range, water, and wildlife.  

These disciplines had been largely immune from skeptical policy analysis.  The regular schools and departments of forestry and so forth were substantially dependent on grants from federal and state agencies for funding research, travel and graduate students.  And biting the hand that feeds is not a good survival strategy.   

Perverse agency behaviors were ripe targets for exposure of mischief and worse.  In short, we exposed huge economic inefficiencies that generated horrid environmental problems.  Forest Service subsiding logging roads for below cost timber sales and Fish and Wild Life Service predator control are dramatic examples.  

Further, the perverse conjunction of bad economics and environmental harm were sexy academic topics.  As a result, publishing in professional journals and place op ed columns in the Wall Street Journal and other major papers was easy.  Likewise, for books and monographs.  In short the Bozeman group of Free Market Environmentalist developed a national and international reputation for solid and innovative work.  Hence, Ron Manners picked us for his students visit. 

Australian Student's essay on experience at John Baden  & Ramona Marotz-Baden’s Ranch

On 28 May, our scholarship team from Perth, Australia, visited Bozeman, Montana.  We represented the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation in the 2019 Americas Study Tour.  We visited the Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) and its founder, John Baden, at the ranch he and his wife Ramona own.  

Both John and Ramona were professors at Montana State University. John founded PERC while running an institute in MSU’s Economics Department, the Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources.  John explained why and how politics drove the institute from the university.  

John greeted us upon arrival and sketched a history of the Gallatin Valley and of the ranch he restored to beauty and productivity. He was generous with his time; guiding us around the property while explaining its embodiment of his vision for a more constructive, wholesome, and productive world.

John’s vision? It’s a ‘holy trinity’ of values which guides his and Ramona’s management of their land. The ranch demonstrates the rewards of responsible liberty, sustainable ecology and modest prosperity. 

Responsible Liberty

Responsible liberty implies the freedom of each individual to act so long as this does not infringe upon the rights of others. John remains steadfast in his belief in personal freedom, being free from the interference of the state when engaged in constructive activities. Above all else, John does not accept any government money.  He simply will not accept money taken by coercion or fraud. This demonstrates John’s personal dedication to liberty and his ranch. No part of it is a result of Government funding and coerced management. 

By contrast, John’s ranch is a prime example of the value of reasonable liberty put into place. John has, over the years, built his ranch through voluntary exchanges and hard work. John’s own dedication has made the ranch an embodiment of responsible liberty and freedom from interference.

Sustainable Ecology 

John’s belief in sustainable ecology means a belief in continually preserving and protecting the environment and the species which inhabit it. John and Ramona’s ranch enhances the environment and the natural beauty of Montana. Like others, John allows a limited number of hunters onto his land each year in order to harvest elk and deer. 

Though animals are hunted, the returns from allowing hunting allows John to continually improve the environment of his property.  He usually “charges” hunters specialized labor, computer work for example, in exchange for hunting privileges.  

This displays the importance of incentives as a part of Free Market Environmentalism: when an individual’s source of revenue comes from the natural environment, that individual has incentives to practice sustainable ecology and hence protect the environment. 

John also invests in the protection of threatened fish on his property, notably West Slope Cut Throat trout in his ponds and creeks. This shows John’s dedication to sustainable ecology and his willingness to invest into the environment on and surrounding his property. Not only is John’s ranch a perfect example of incentives in Free Market Environmentalism; it also shows that sustainable ecology can often be its own reward.

Modest Prosperity 

Finally, is John’s idea of modest prosperity: that we all should be free to reap and to enjoy the fruits of our labor to the point where we are satisfied, and not to the point of excess. Of all of John’s values, this is the most apparent from a tour of John’s ranch. 

The ranch is in a beautiful location with pristine waters, green fields and trees, and lively animals. Coming from the city, these parts of John’s property displayed to us the simpler things in life . We began to appreciate these aspects of modest prosperity. From our conversations with John, it was incredible to see how thoroughly satisfied he is with his work on the ranch. To us, this served as a lesson to all of us as we began to focus on our own lives and how we can prosper and appreciate all that we have done.

Our visit to John and Baden’s ranch displayed to us not just the natural beauty of the State of Montana, but also core values that we can implement in our own lives. John was a thoroughly gracious host who was generous with his time, but also steadfast in his values. Our visit allowed us to think of the place of John’s ‘holy trinity’ in our own lives. 

f. n. :  In 1978 I created an institute in MSU’s economics department, the Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources.  Naturally, it developed foes inside and outside the university and was driven out. With the counsel and financial support of foundation presidents who supported my MSU institute, I founded PERC and a few years later, FREE in1985.