- 20 Jan 2014 07:35
#14355395
In this entire discussion (and I take partial responsibility for that), the concept of "Land" was treated too narrowly. "Land" in the technical, economics sense means not just the surface area of the Earth, but any natural resource. Thus sub-oceanic resources and (use of) electro-magnetic spectrum (in a particular area) are both examples of "Land". With this in mind, I hope we can all agree that not all the Land has been claimed. Far from it.
The question of claims for uninhabited land is thus a viable one, and can be resumed. Clearly, governments claim monopoly over the allocation of property rights in virgin, unclaimed Land (as the FCC did in the US in the early 20th century with respect to electromagnetic spectrum use-rights). Libertarians claim that such "uninhabited" (that is - unused and never-before-used) Land is unowned, and becomes the legitimate property of the first people to make reasonably-exclusive use of it.
The vast majority of the economy, of course, doesn't deal with unclaimed Land (whether in the narrow or in the wide sense), but rather with the right to transfer existing claims. I do believe that "virgin" setting, e.g. a group of colonists reaching a previously-unihabited world, is a useful thought-experiment. Imagining Colonial Era US without Native Americans is precisely such thought experiment, not an attempt to ignore indigenous people's rights.
As discussed countless times here, against the background of that thought experiment, in the context of which libertarians claim that uninhabited Land is unowned, and becomes the just property of its first (reasonably-exclusive) user, we can return to the real world, recognise that perfect historic justice is impossible, and strive towards the next best thing.
Just because we cannot undo the injustices of the past doesn't mean that some people have unlimited license to pile new injustices on top.
Moreover, in economic terms, the vast majority of wealth (as opposed to atoms) has been created in very recent history, often by easily-identifiable people and organisations. As the economy continues to grow, that will become even more so. The uncertain historic rights become progressively "diluted" and less-and-less consequential (with the possible exception of those Native reservations).
Free men are not equal and equal men are not free.
Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.