Author Archive | Sabrina Safrin

Many thanks both to Eugene and to all who have shared their insights over the last several days. I conclude today by discussing two ramifications of the chain reaction evolution of property rights: 1) less efficient property regimes and 2) the importance of first movers. First, if, property rights can arise in reaction to each […]

Today’s global economy makes the chain reaction creation of property rights more pronounced because changes in property rights in one country, particularly when internationalized, can trigger unanticipated changes in the property regimes of another. The propertization of naturally-occurring genetic material that occurred in response to the patenting of bioengineered organisms and isolated and purified genetic […]

My last two postings identified two reasons why property rights beget additional property rights. First, some may seek property rights because they are copying the actions of others, particularly the actions of influential members of their community. As an example, I pointed to the dramatic rise in patenting notwithstanding the low expected value of individual […]

Yesterday, my post explored how patents can beget additional patents as people and corporations, like lemmings, following the patenting activity of others. Today, I want to explore one of the best examples of reactive propertization – the emergence of exclusive property rights over raw genetic material. Until recently, nations and individuals treated genetic material – […]

Thank you Eugene for inviting me to guest blog about Chain Reaction: How Property Begets Property. There I argue that intellectual and other property rights can arise in reaction to each other. These reactive property rights may have little to do with the value of the resource in question or efficiency concerns. The chain reaction […]