The Lessons of John Locke or Hernando de Soto: What if Your Dreams Come True?

Donald Krueckeberg

Housing Policy Debate, 2004, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Hernando de Soto has presented the most powerful argument for the extension of property rights since John Locke's revolutionary Two Treatises of Government in 1689. De Soto calls for the legal titling of land for squatters and other illegal occupants of the informal economy on a promise of efficiency (increased productivity of land). However, efficiency arguments, which have dominated recent literature on property law and economics, fall short of an adequate basis for a just doctrine. Drawing on the theories of John Locke, this article addresses the need to understand the rules required to sustain the equity goals of society in the expansion of property ownership. These rules focus on the meaning of property, constraints on its use and accumulation, and delineation of the institutional embeddedness of these rights and obligations. Evidence from the impact of U.S. tax policy on housing illustrates the importance of property rules and their structure.

Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/10511482.2004.9521492 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:houspd:v:15:y:2004:i:1:p:1-24

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RHPD20

DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2004.9521492

Access Statistics for this article

Housing Policy Debate is currently edited by Tom Sanchez, Susanne Viscarra and Derek Hyra

More articles in Housing Policy Debate from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().