Good fences make good neighbours. — Robert Lee Frost.
FreedomThe recognition of property avoids the conflicts that arise over the control of any good that may have alternative uses.
Private Property goes hand in hand with the concept of rights.
Rights are inherent abilities of the human being that demand respect.
In a civilized society, rights are self-evident, sensed by
conscience.
Property is the right of exclusion over a scarce resource.
It is the standard from which all other rights are
derived; if not, rights would become fuzzy and contradictory.
Everyone has the right to preserve and enjoy their property,
encompassing their
own life and peacefully acquired possessions.
Respect for life lies in the recognition that each person is the owner of his body
and the fruits of his labor, acquired through voluntary exchange, production, or homesteading.
The condition in which rights are respected is known as Justice.
Freedom is the individual ability to dispose of and use one's own property.
Freedom and property rights are inseparable. You can't have one without the other. — George Washington.
Rights don't imply positive obligations or the duty to act, as that would violate freedom. This realization leads to the principles of non-aggression and the right to self-defense.
Don't tread on me.
Nothing requiring others' labor is a human right; for instance, there exists a moral obligation to
assist the
needy, yet the needy does not possess the right to coerce others into providing help.
One person's rights can only imply negative obligations for others.
Live and let live.
Trade thrives on respect for Private Property and induces social cohesion through spontaneous cooperation.
Free trade is God's diplomacy and there is no other certain way of uniting people in the bonds of peace. — Richard Cobden.
Voluntary exchange turns strangers familiar with each other, creating benefits for honest participants and disincentivizing hostile attitudes.
It is almost a general rule that where there are mild customs, there is trade and that where there is trade, customs are mild. — Montesquieu noticed in 1748.
A man without a smiling face must not open a shop. — Chinese Proverb.
Beyond ethics, the respect for Private Property facilitates economic development by enabling economic calculation and incentivizing the creation of value.
Economic calculation:
Economic freedom and sound money are essential conditions for the existence of a
reliable price system.
Prices enable the quantification of value by comparing the scarcity of any good with
that of monetary units.
The price system works as a mechanism for transmiting dispersed economic knowledge.
Free-Market economies are knowledge economies about consumer preferences.
The accounting of revenue and cost makes it possible to estimate profits and losses,
informing goods'
providers whether they are creating more economic value than they are destroying.
Profit compared to the value of the tools that were utilized to produce it, is called
interest.
Interests and risks guide entrepreneurs in the allocation of resources and activities.
Incentives for the creation of economic value:
Private property fosters cultures of long-term orientation, as entrepreneurs, driven by the pursuit of higher interests, accumulate capital, experiment, and cooperate to better compete in satisfying consumers' desires by offering better services at a better price.
Virtually all economic growth comes from innovation. New technologies, new habits, new ideas are what drive up living standards. Innovation is the parent of prosperity but it is the child of freedom. — Matt Ridley.
Economic growth acts as a scarcity-liberating mechanism, transforming what was once considered scarce into abundant. This progression signifies an increase in the availability and quality of goods, leading to an improvement in the standard of living, i.e. a rise in real incomes.
Private property also entails responsibility, fostering self-monitoring and resource maintenance.