Property Rights

Property rights are theoretical socially-enforced constructs in economics for determining how a resource or economic good is used and owned. Resources can be owned by (and hence be the property of) individuals, associations, collectives, or governments.

Why The Pilgrims Abandoned Common Ownership For Private Property

The first few years of Plymouth colony were fraught with hardship and hunger. Economics had a lot to do with it.

Patents, Novelty, and Trolls: Crash Course Intellectual Property

This week, Stan teaches you about patents. It turns out, they're patently complicated!

How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims

This article explores how private property may have saved the pilgrims.

This Turtle Tourist Center Also Raises Endangered Turtles for Meat

Animal advocates accuse the Cayman Turtle Centre of mistreating its sea turtles and stoking demand for the meat of an endangered species, claims it denies.

Science of Innovation

This video examines the purpose and effect of patents in the United States of America.

Life Under the Bubble

Biosphere 2 was one of the most lauded experiments of the 1990s, then one of the most ridiculed. Now it is back, offering a unique way to put theories about climate and environment to the test.

The U.S. Supreme Court Is Reining in Patent Trolls, Which Is a Win for Innovation

This article by the Harvard Business Review examines recent changes in patent law.

Intellectual Property is Theft

Is intellectual property an example of monopoly power?

Illegal Dumping in the U.K.

Illegal dumping is the 'new narcotics' for organized criminals in the U.K.

The Secret Document That Transformed China: Planet Money

In 1978, a group of farmers in a Chinese village called Xiaogang wrote a secret contract and hid it in the roof of a mud hut.

Subscribe to Property Rights