It works and every single time weve come even close to it anywhere it brought hundrets of years of stability, security and prosperity. See the privately owned merchant republic of Genoa for instance.
300 years in iceland until the catholic church pushed tithes on them... 9000 years in jericho, no signs of a centralised government or monarchy... and prior to Samuel in the bible there was no jewish king, only judges, decentralised, market based law