MIGHT MAKES RIGHTS: A THEORY OF THE FORMATION AND INITIAL DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS |
| |
Authors: | JOHN UMBECK |
| |
Abstract: | This paper is a theoretical and empirical investigation into the formation and initial distribution of property rights. Violence is singled out as a major constraint on this formation process. Its role is explicitly modeled in a choice theoretic framework and some of the implications are tested using data collected from contracts written during the California gold rush of 1848. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|