ASSET OWNERSHIP
BRIAN KANTOR: Why property rights matter — and why more should benefit
I asked a class of senior law students what they thought the purpose was of all the laws that protect property (wealth or assets or capital by other names) against theft, fraud or seizure, including by the state, and the purpose of the many laws that facilitate the exchange of assets. The students did have a sense of the fairness of such laws protecting owners. They did not recognise the importance of the economic incentives at work — that unless rights to property were exercised, there would be little incentive to create wealth, to save, build and sacrifice immediate consumption for later benefits for society at large. But I also pointed out that the value of assets owned could be severely damaged by regulations imposed on their use (perhaps of net benefit to society at large) for which compensation is seldom allowed by the courts. Think, I said, of the proverbial little old lady and her children whose only meaningful asset is a house whose value is much diminished by declaring it ...
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