The Political Institution of Private Property

Description

In this book, Itai Sened examines the political institution of property and other individual rights. His argument is that the foundation of such rights is to be found in the political and economic institutions which grant and enforce them and not in any set of moral principles or 'nature'. The book further argues that individual rights are instituted through a political process, and not by any hidden market forces. The origin of rights is placed in a social contract that evolves as a political process in which governments grant and protect property and other individual rights to constituents, in return for economic and political support. Extending neo-institutional theory to the subject, and using a positive game theoretic approach in its analysis, this book is an original contribution to scholarship on the evolution of rights.

"Examination of the origin and extent of property rights has in recent years become a major concern of economists, lawyers, political scientists, and other scholars. This slender yet well-researched and well-argued volume continues this inquiry into property rights...an interesting book." -- Choice "This is a very timely work. Actors in the postcommunist world are creating, altering, and redistributing property rights on a scale rarely seen. Sened provides a very useful approach to study these cases. Moreover, these cases offer the opportunity to buil on Sened's impressive work." Timothy Frye, Political Science Quarterly