Anarchocapitalism is pretty silly, but I think there are kernels of it that provide interesting solutions to social problems.
For example: imagine lenders and borrowers could pay for & agree on enforcement mechanisms for nonpayment metered out by the state, instead of it just being dictated by congress. E.g. if you don't pay this back on time you go to prison for ${n} months. This way people with bad credit scores or poor impulse control might still be able to get credit.
How does putting people in prison get the creditors paid? I guess if it's a paid work prison, but I don't think you'll have many supporters for a system with that kind of indenture. AnCap is an awesome thought experiment, and a nice way to point out that there is no underlying moral justification for governments. But the consequentialist argument is VERY strong - as un-justified equilibria go, modern liberal democratic states have pretty good results. They're starting to sag under their own weight and may not last much longer without a major reboot, but hey, the Singularity might get here first.
How does putting people in prison get the creditors paid?
It doesn't, it just provides an opt-in mechanism for discouraging nonpayment in the first place, in more ways than one. The current system is one where borrowers can just say "I don't have the money, I spent it all on alcohol" and basically nothing happens to them except the rates on future credit cards goes up. When people propose raising the stakes for our all-in-one bankruptcy mechanism or allow people to examine credit histories >7 years in the past they are accused of being too inconsidera... (read more)