From Possession to Property: Preferences and the Role of Culture

Uta-Maria Niederle ()

Papers on Economics and Evolution from Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography

Abstract: The paper investigates the interplay between the institutions of law and property and innate propensities towards possession. The questions to be answered are: How do property relations emerge in historical-anthropological terms in contrast to the well-known constitutional perspective and what role do preferences - as human cognitive and behavioural dispositions - play in this process? The paper conjectures that possessiveness towards specific objects together with a primary attitude toward first rules of law, that is some rule preference and commitment, shape patterns and outcomes of property relations. More complex structures of property relations have developed together with technological advances. The differences in property relations across different societies result partly from diverse ecological conditions and partly from culturally transmitted traditions.

Keywords: property rights; possessive behaviour; culture; law; preferences; cognition; anthropology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K11 N40 O12 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2004-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-hpe and nep-law
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Chapter: From Possession to Property: Preferences and the Role of Culture (2005)
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:esi:evopap:2004-06

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Papers on Economics and Evolution from Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography Deutschhausstrasse 10, 35032 Marburg. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christoph Mengs ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).