Property Rights

The concrete effects of the destruction of money and property on human personality are demonstrated most vividly in the historical episode of the German hyperinflation of 1923.

Most people believe that the state is a necessary entity for securing private property rights. However, a study of the American West before the territories became states shows us a different reality where communities protected their property without state intervention.

In a recent symposium on Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty, philosopher Matt Zwolinski takes issue with Rothbard on Murray’s views of freedom and property rights.

Do we need government to referee all of our property disputes? Throughout history, people have peacefully resolved disputes without the help of state authorities. 

In publicly opposing apartheid, William H. Hutt saw how legal segregation kept black South Africans from pursuing legitimate economic goals. To Hutt, apartheid deprived people of equality of economic opportunity, which kept them in poverty.

What are property rights and how do we define them? The late Butler Shaffer argued that they come from our “will to own.”

In a recent symposium on Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty, philosopher Matt Zwolinski takes issue with Rothbard on Murray’s views of freedom and property rights.

Private property rights are under fire by progressive elites — even as those same elites protect their own property fiercely. But without these rights, a functioning economy is not possible.

A common knock on libertarianism is that it is so individualistic that it rejects the concept of community. (Think of the political cartoon in which the libertarian lifeguard let people drown.) In truth, strong communities also need free individuals.

In publicly opposing apartheid, William H. Hutt saw how legal segregation kept black South Africans from pursuing legitimate economic goals. To Hutt, apartheid deprived people of equality of economic opportunity, which kept them in poverty.