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First in Time
Nightclubs can make for very poor neighbors. Loud noise, traffic, and drunken patrons can be disruptive to the residents of nearby homes. These types of nuisances are the basis for a controversy brewing in Abilene. A developer wants to build housing for low-income families near a nightclub. The club’s owner fears that the residents of…
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…
A Phanatic Conflict
Imagine the following scenario: You buy a house and over the next forty years the property significantly appreciates in value. The previous owner then threatens to terminate the sale unless you renegotiate the deal. This might sound absurd, but this is precisely what is happening to the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. In 1978, the Phillies…
The Tragedy of the “Commons,” Part 1
In 1968, Garrett Hardin wrote a highly influential article titled “The Tragedy of the Commons,” in which he examined the problems that inherently arise when property is owned “in common.” Hardin tells the story of a pasture shared by a number of herdsmen: As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain. Explicitly…
Resolving Social Conflicts with Property Rights: Discrimination
For decades, legislative bodies have enacted laws that prohibit businesses and landlords from discriminating against an ever-growing list of individuals, such as ethnic and racial minorities, women, gays, the handicapped, and more recently, transgender individuals. Like many other issues involving the violation of property rights, anti-discrimination legislation is founded on fuzzy and imprecise thinking. It…
The Fundamental Nature of Zoning
A graphic at the beginning of a recent article about short-term rentals (STRs) in the Dallas area illustrates the fundamental nature of zoning. In the graphic, it is stated that the zoning ordinance adopted by Grapevine in 1982 did not permit STRs. It is implied that if a particular use is not explicitly permitted, then…