ABSTRACT
For at least the last 200 years in the developed economies of the West the definition, assignment, and protection of property rights have been deemed vital to vigorous economic growth (Landes 1998; North and Miller 1973). Because government is generally the most efficient agent for performing these functions, there has long been an important relationship among governmental authority, property, and economic growth (Blackstone 1979, orig. 1765-1769). In a relatively early phase of modern economic growth the governmental role with respect to property is straightforward: define and protect private property rights, particularly in land, but do not over-regulate them. But as economic growth proceeds, the governmental role with respect to property becomes more complicated. Among other things, new forms of property appear or become more important-for example, intellectual property in patents and copyrightsand new problems arise as individual and governmental interference with private property becomes more frequent-example, because of societal concerns to preserve wetlands. The appropriate relationship between government and private property in these more advanced stages of development is far more nuanced than can be captured by such slogans as “strong private property rights” or “common ownership of society’s valuable resources.” In this essay I shall attempt to outline these more complicated relationships between government and property for a wealthy, growing society. I shall take it as given that there is a background of strong private property rights so that I need not take time to outline the important issue of the boundaries between public and private property.
