Property is a fundamental component of democratic market societies. But what is property? What rights attach to it? And what might be some effective ways of both protecting and/or limiting private property and its uses? More generally, are our traditional concepts of property still applicable to a world in which value is increasingly embodied in ideas, techniques, and services rather than tangible objects? The purpose of this project, then, is to explore, develop, articulate, and test a wide range of contrasting conceptual possibilities for emerging public policy for property that might address these and related questions.
Many people have conflicting or uncertain views regarding property and property rights. And these conflicts or uncertainties have increased as our economy and our wealth has shifted from manufactured goods to intellectual property, services, and ideas. Today our concepts of property and property rights are being applied to the value created by electronic and biological technologies and methods and the value inherent in scarce public resources–what some call the “commons.” Our ideas about property are also being stretched by the need to trade with nations that may not share our values. Increasingly, we are being called upon as a society to rethink our ideas of property: the different kinds of roles that it might play in our economic, social, and political life and the different kinds of property and property rights that we might wish to create, promote, and protect.
This Project completed its panel discussions and produced a Discussion Report in early 2009. That report, which is being used in Public Discussions now, describes 7 different conceptual possibilities for Property.
You can download a copy of this report from our “Discussion Reports” page (also listed in the sidebar to the right), which lists all of our published reports, or, to download a copy directly, you can click on the following link: Property (28 pages/570 KB).
Property
Project Manager – Mark Notturno
Property is a fundamental component of democratic market societies. But what is property? What rights attach to it? And what might be some effective ways of both protecting and/or limiting private property and its uses? More generally, are our traditional concepts of property still applicable to a world in which value is increasingly embodied in ideas, techniques, and services rather than tangible objects? The purpose of this project, then, is to explore, develop, articulate, and test a wide range of contrasting conceptual possibilities for emerging public policy for property that might address these and related questions.
Many people have conflicting or uncertain views regarding property and property rights. And these conflicts or uncertainties have increased as our economy and our wealth has shifted from manufactured goods to intellectual property, services, and ideas. Today our concepts of property and property rights are being applied to the value created by electronic and biological technologies and methods and the value inherent in scarce public resources–what some call the “commons.” Our ideas about property are also being stretched by the need to trade with nations that may not share our values. Increasingly, we are being called upon as a society to rethink our ideas of property: the different kinds of roles that it might play in our economic, social, and political life and the different kinds of property and property rights that we might wish to create, promote, and protect.
This Project completed its panel discussions and produced a Discussion Report in early 2009. That report, which is being used in Public Discussions now, describes 7 different conceptual possibilities for Property.
You can download a copy of this report from our “Discussion Reports” page (also listed in the sidebar to the right), which lists all of our published reports, or, to download a copy directly, you can click on the following link: Property (28 pages/570 KB).