How important is the protection of property rights to the effort to promote strong, prosperous businesses?

 How important is the protection of property rights to the effort to promote strong, prosperous businesses? 

Typically, property rights are defined as the ownership, an owner’s right to use a good or asset for consumption, income generation, the right to contract with other parties by renting, pledging, or mortgaging a good or asset, by allowing other parties to use it, or trades, the right to transfer property to others. And, trades facilitate business and economic development. Most economic theories indicate that stronger property rights should lead to a higher rate of investment and economic growth. 

So, how do property rights affect economic activity? Insecure property rights imply that individuals or business owners may fail to realize the returns of their investment and efforts, and it is also unproductive while everyone has to defend their own property all by themselves. Trade is also one of the crucial economic activities that require private assets to be used by those who can do so most productively and strong property rights facilitate trades. Finally, how we use and dispose our property is a right like freedom. If we lost the freedom of how we live our life, how do we get our dreams to come true?

To what extent should governments restrict property rights to protect other important rights?

Typically, when a government restricts some rights of its citizens, it must be for public benefit or at least reasonable. During the pandemic of COVID-19, governments around the world are all trying to prevent and block it. Some cities or states require people to get vaccinated before they back to work. Airlines require their customers to show their COVID-19 PCR test results before boarding. These regulations are great examples of restricting property rights to protect other important rights, which is the public benefit. Suppose that many business owners refuse to do those restrictions and keep doing their businesses without any preventing measures, the virus will outbreak briskly, and more highly transmissible variants will appear to spark concerns that vaccines may be less effective against them.

Reflection

At the end of this week's journal, I draw a picture that captures the relationship between business activities, individuals, and governments. I usually draw something to help me better a concept, a notion, or an idea. Although the picture does not include all the elements of the protection of property rights to the effort to promote strong, prosperous businesses, it described the basic interactions involved.

Reference

Reforming property rights and economic development. VOX, CEPR Policy Portal. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://voxeu.org/article/reforming-property-rights-and-economic-development.