Government efforts to subsidize homeownership helped cause or at least exacerbate the financial crisis, and left taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in liability for dubious mortgages. In this recent New York Times op ed, Yale economist Robert Shiller, a leading expert on housing markets, concedes that such subsidies have little […]
Archive | Property Rights
U.S. Backs Bluefin Tuna Trade Ban
The Washington Post reports that the U.S. will support a proposal to list Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This would have the effect of prohibiting all international trade in this valued fish. A single prized specimen has sold for as much as $175,000 in Japan. […]
Utah May Try to Use Eminent Domain to Take Federal Government Land
The Utah House of Representatives recently enacted a law that would enable the state to seize federal land using its power of eminent domain (see also this shorter account) [HT: Edward Lopez]: Long frustrated by Washington’s control over much of their state, Utah legislators are proposing a novel way to deal with federal land — […]
Married Women’s Property Rights and the Privileges or Immunities Clause
In the McDonald oral argument, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg implied that an originalist approach to the Privileges or Immunities Clause might justify protecting property rights for men, but not for married women. She claimed that “a large portion of the population at that time [1868] didn’t have those rights” and asked McDonald’s counsel Alan Gura […]
Nicole Gelinas on Blight Condemnations in New York
By Ilya Somin on February 25, 2010 7:55 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Nicole Gelinas has an interesting article on the expansive use of “blight condemnations” in New York. As she points out, New York courts have defined blight so broadly that virtually any area can be designated as such, and then condemned. This has created massive opportunities for abuse by politically connected interest groups who can use […]
New London May Build Townhouses on Site of Kelo Takings
For years, the site of the property condemned in the controversial Kelo v. City of New London case has stood empty. Now however, there are recent reports that the city of New London has found a developer interested in building townhouses on the site (see here and here) [HT: my RA Eva Choi, and Michael […]
Of Snowstorms and Privately Enforced Property Rights
The massive “Snowmageddon” snowstorm is a good time to consider this interesting 2001 article about snowstorms and parking space property rights by Northwestern University law professor Fred McChesney [HT: Alex Tabarrok]: Before snowfalls, a parking space belongs to the one who occupies it: you leave it, you lose it. In wintertime Chicago, however, excavating one’s […]
Smoking out a Dubious Lawsuit: Massachusetts Woman Sues Real Estate Broker over Second-Hand Smoke in Condo
A Massachusetts woman is suing her real estate broker over exposure to second-hand smoke in her condo, which the broker helped her purchase: Alyssa Burrage says she was smoked out of her new $405,000 condominium. Burrage, a 32-year-old advertising company employee with a history of asthma, had smelled cigarettes when she first visited the bright, […]
Podcast of my Debate on Kelo and Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform with Saul Levmore
By Ilya Somin on February 6, 2010 7:57 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In response to popular demand, The University of Chicago Federalist Society has posted a podcast of my recent debate on Kelo and post-Kelo eminent domain reform with former U of Chicago Law School Dean Saul Levmore. Current UC Dean Michael Schill moderated. The podcast is available here. A good time was had by all, and […]
Debate on Kelo and Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform at the University of Chicago Law School
By Ilya Somin on February 1, 2010 9:58 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
This Thursday from 12:15 to 1:30, I will be debating former University of Chicago Law School Dean Saul Levmore on Kelo v. New London and post-Kelo eminent domain reform – the biggest political backlash generated by any Supreme Court decision in many decades. Current UC Dean Michael Schill will moderate. I am in the process […]
David Boaz on Avatar as a Defense of Property Rights
In a recent LA Times op ed, David Boaz of the Cato Institute joins economist David Henderson in interpreting the blockbuster film Avatar as a defense of property rights: Conservatives have been very critical of the Golden Globe-winning film “Avatar” for its mystical melange of trite leftist themes. But what they have missed is that […]
Asset Forfeiture: “A License to Steal”
Radley Balko has an interesting article in Reason detailing the many abuses of the asset forfeiture system, which often allows police to seize property without compensation – even in cases where the owners have not been convicted of any crime: Over the past three decades, it has become routine in the United States for state, […]
Formerly Socialist Israeli Kibbutzim Discover the Virtues of Private Property
Israel’s collectivist kibbutzim were once one of the world’s most highly touted experiments in socialism. But, as the Financial Times reports [HT: Tyler Cowen], they have increasing switched over to private property rights: Set amid rolling hills in central Israel, Kibbutz Nachshon is a cluster of simple houses shaded by pine trees and surrounded by […]
Corporate Rights and Property Rights are Human Rights: Why it’s a Mistake to Conflate a Right with the Means Used to Exercise it
In my last post, I explained why it’s a mistake to deny free speech rights to people organized as corporations on the grounds that corporations aren’t “real people.” It’s true, of course, that a corporation is not a person. But the people who own and operate it are. “Corporate speech” is really just speech by […]
Avatar and Property Rights in China
By Ilya Somin on January 14, 2010 2:13 am in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Property Rights, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Most commentators have interpreted the movie Avatar as having an anti-capitalist message. Libertarian economist David Henderson, however, claims that it is actually a defense of property rights. Though I must reserve judgement until I see the movie, I am skeptical that Henderson’s interpretation is either the message intended by the producers or the one most […]