Who said it?

[The Terrible Sweal]

"If there are two equally able and hardworking people, one living in a wealthy society and the other living in a poor one, the former will have a higher standard of living; and the difference will be due to the efforts of the other members, living and dead, of the wealthier and to other factors external to the character, capacity, and efforts of the two individuals. The individual's 'right' to property in such a society is not 'natural', because, even if we ignore the role of luck, his possessions are a product of social interactions rather than of his skills and efforts alone, and those skills may be, in part or whole, a social product too."

[daniel]

"If there are two equally able and hardworking people, one living in a wealthy society and the other living in a poor one, the former will have a higher standard of living; and the difference will be due to the efforts of the other members, living and dead, of the wealthier and to other factors external to the character, capacity, and efforts of the two individuals. The individual's 'right' to property in such a society is not 'natural', because, even if we ignore the role of luck, his possessions are a product of social interactions rather than of his skills and efforts alone, and those skills may be, in part or whole, a social product too."

Judge Richard Posner. Who's he?

[August1991]

It sounds like Posner.

He's simply saying that any particular way of assigning property rights is largely arbitrary.

But that emphatically does not mean that property rights are not necessary or can be arbitrarily changed.

Example? A person's eye colour is partly inherited. People with blue eyes earn on average more than people with brown eyes. There is no simple way to undo this arbitrary, inherited advantage.

PS. It is unfortunate that Posner will never make the Supreme Court. Well, Bork too never made it.

[The Terrible Sweal]

Bork is a raving looney!

[August1991]

Bork is a raving looney!

One photo makes him look like an ax-murderer and you draw weird conclusions.

[August1991]

My example of eye colour is correct to the extent that in some societies, blue eyes are desirable.

Posner's point is that mere luck does not explain differing obtained property rights. A blue-eyed person would have to be born into a society where those blue-eyes could be traded up to good use.

IOW, Posner is saying that law is a good with positive externalities - a public good. Good law makes trade possible.

Good quote, thanks TS.

[maplesyrup]

"If there are two equally able and hardworking people, one living in a wealthy society and the other living in a poor one, the former will have a higher standard of living; and the difference will be due to the efforts of the other members, living and dead, of the wealthier and to other factors external to the character, capacity, and efforts of the two individuals. The individual's 'right' to property in such a society is not 'natural', because, even if we ignore the role of luck, his possessions are a product of social interactions rather than of his skills and efforts alone, and those skills may be, in part or whole, a social product too."

Duh!

[The Terrible Sweal]

Bork is a raving looney!

One photo makes him look like an ax-murderer and you draw weird conclusions.

On the contrary, I read his book "Slouching Toward Gomorrah".

Stark raving fruitcake.