Private, Public, and Common Ownership
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Markus Haller
Abstract
The idea that private ownership implies that owners are free to do with their things whatever they want is shown to be mistaken. It is argued that private, public and common ownership are all based on the right to alienate a thing, regardless of the number of owners. Social or legal norms can make the ownership of a thing conditional on the participation in government or on group membership. In the former case, the norms establish public ownership, in the latter case common ownership. If things are owned and these norms do not apply, they are privately owned. Local social circumstances determine to some extent what form of ownership generates the highest benefits to owners, social and legal norms provide incentives which encourage or discourage the choice of the efficient form of ownership.
© 1998 by Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart
Articles in the same Issue
- Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society
- Comment on John Searle’s The Construction of Social Reality
- Private, Public, and Common Ownership
- Self-love, Seif-interest and the Rational Economic Agent
- Triumph und Grenzen des Marktes
- Märkte, Normen und das ökonomische Handlungsmodell
- Armut, Gerechtigkeit und Demokratie
Articles in the same Issue
- Social Ontology and the Philosophy of Society
- Comment on John Searle’s The Construction of Social Reality
- Private, Public, and Common Ownership
- Self-love, Seif-interest and the Rational Economic Agent
- Triumph und Grenzen des Marktes
- Märkte, Normen und das ökonomische Handlungsmodell
- Armut, Gerechtigkeit und Demokratie
