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The Mystery of Property Rights: A U.S. Perspective

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  • Lamoreaux, Naomi R.

Abstract

Economic development requires both secure property rights and the ability to reallocate property in response to technological and other changes. Significant reallocations have occurred repeatedly throughout U.S. history and have often been involuntary. This essay considers the question of how property rights can be subject to frequent involuntary reallocation and still be considered secure. “Upon the sacredness of property civilization itself depends—the right of the laborer to his hundred dollars in the savings bank, and equally the legal right of the millionaire to his millions.”1Andrew Carnegie

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  • Lamoreaux, Naomi R., 2011. "The Mystery of Property Rights: A U.S. Perspective," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(2), pages 275-306, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:71:y:2011:i:02:p:275-306_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Carlos, Ann M. & Feir, Donna L. & Redish, Angela, 2022. "Indigenous Nations and the Development of the U.S. Economy: Land, Resources, and Dispossession," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 516-555, June.
    2. Christian Dippel & Dustin Frye & Bryan Leonard, 2020. "Property Rights without Transfer Rights: A Study of Indian Land Allotment," NBER Working Papers 27479, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Fleck, Robert K. & Hanssen, F. Andrew, 2024. "Courts, legislatures, and evolving property rules: Lessons from eminent domain," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Sumner La Croix, 2014. "Land Confiscations and land reform in Natural-Order States," Working Papers 201406, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    5. Kanazawa, Mark, 2023. "Politics and eminent domain: Evidence from the 1879 California constitution," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Samuel Garrido, 2017. "The fruit of inequality: wine, efficiency, agrarian contracts and property rights in Catalonia (1898-1935)," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1701, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    7. Sng, Tuan-Hwee, 2014. "Size and dynastic decline: The principal-agent problem in late imperial China, 1700–1850," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 107-127.
    8. Tomita, Yosuke, 2024. "Does downside risk in the stock market differ by legal origin? The impact of property rights and the rule of law on stock markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Hoehn, John P. & Adanu, Kwami, 2014. "What motivates voters’ support for eminent domain reform: Ownership, vulnerability, or ideology?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 90-99.

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