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Property Rights and the “Little Guy,” Part 3
In Part 2 of this series, we saw how minimum wage laws erect barriers to the “little guy” by making it more difficult for him to obtain the job skills that will command a higher wage. Occupational licensing laws are another example. As one example, suppose you want to offer African hair braiding services. In…
Houston, We Have a (Zoning) Problem
ByjbpThe following article was published in the Spring 2009 issue of The Objective Standard. $ $ $ Houston, Texas, my hometown, is one of only two American cities with a population greater than one hundred thousand that has not imposed zoning laws on its citizens. (The other city is Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston.)…
End the Piece Meal Defense of Property Rights
During the 2017 Texas legislative session, protecting property rights from violations by local governments was a recurring subject and the source of great controversy. Legislators introduced bills to rescind local ordinances pertaining to plastic bag bans, tree removal, short-term rentals, and more. Gov. Gregg Abbott called a special session largely for the explicit purpose of…
The Freedom to Trade and Use Vaccines
Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Americans permission to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA’s action came three weeks after the company submitted a request for Emergency Use Authorization. During those three weeks, nearly four million new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the United States, and more than 40,000 Americans died from…
Property Rights and Human Flourishing
Without property rights, human flourishing is impossible. Without property rights, starvation and misery are the inevitable results. Consider Venezuela as a stark example. In the 1990s, Venezuela was the wealthiest country in Latin America. Today, millions are starving, electricity and water are rationed, and the nation’s hospitals lack basic supplies. Inflation is nearly 2,000 percent…
Who Owns Dinosaur Fossils?
In late November, a federal judge in Fort Worth ruled that a Wichita Falls anesthesiologist and fossil enthusiast could keep the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull in his possession. The federal government had brought the lawsuit in an effort to return the skull to Mongolia, which claims ownership of the fossil. Admittedly, this is a very esoteric…