Property Rights

Standard beliefs say that government protects our natural environment while the market system destroys it. Economic analysis gives a much different perspective.

Can natural resources be appropriated but still subject to a rental tax?

So oppressive was the Inca regime that it's no wonder the Spaniards found many enemies willing to help topple the empire.

So oppressive was the Inca regime that it's no wonder the Spaniards found many enemies willing to help topple the empire.

Will guilt or innocence in criminal trials increasingly hinge on broader desirable social justice outcomes?

Step 1: claim that only government can solve the problem of "externalities." Step 2: claim that externalities are everywhere. Step 3: send in bureaucrats to solve every "problem" caused by externalities.

Step 1: claim that only government can solve the problem of "externalities." Step 2: claim that externalities are everywhere. Step 3: send in bureaucrats to solve every "problem" caused by externalities.

Is this trend toward soft secession necessarily illiberal? Is the potential for creating more states or political subdivisions, even if smaller and less sclerotic, moving us further from an idealized Hoppean private community model?

Many scholars employ excessively narrow notions of homesteading which wrongly suggest that virtually all Indian hunting grounds and food sources were "unowned."  

Kevin Vallier's new book is a valuable contribution to "public reason liberalism," introducing useful arguments for strengthening private property rights.