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Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism

Handbook of Cliometrics

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Abstract

Property rights are the most fundamental institution in any society. They determine who has decision-making authority over assets and who bears the costs and benefits of those decisions. They assign ownership, wealth, political influence, and social standing. They make markets possible, define timelines, and provide incentives for investment, innovation, and trade. They mitigate the losses of open access and provide the basis for long-term economic growth. Economists and economic historians have long recognized the importance of secure property rights for economic outcomes. Other political economy, philosophy, and historical and legal literatures emphasize different, but critical, attributes based on how property rights are allocated and to whom. The linkages among the social, political, and economic effects are examined here with respect to US and Latin American frontier land and minerals. Property rights were sharply different across the two frontiers with apparent long-term consequences for economic growth, innovation, wealth distribution, private investment in public goods, as well as social and political stability. The distinct assignment of property rights to land and minerals is likely a basis for long-term US exceptionalism in economic performance, individualism, mobility, and optimism. The mechanisms through which property rights to land in a frontier society affect outcomes in a contemporary, highly urban one are complex. Because property rights to land were broadly distributed, Americans could participate in capital markets using land as collateral. This ability shaped opinions regarding markets, capitalism, and individual opportunity. In the twenty-first century, these critical attributes may be eroding, inviting more analysis from economists and economic historians.

Very helpful comments and direction were provided by Daron Acemoglu, Susan Carter, Robert Ellickson, Eric Edwards, Stanley Engerman, Richard Epstein, Peter Lindert, Deirdre McCloskey, Larry Neal, Claire Priest, Richard Sutch, Tom Weiss, and Gavin Wright. Excellent research assistance was provided by Chester Lindley

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Bureau of Economic Research, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Gary D. Libecap

  2. Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Gary D. Libecap

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  1. BETA/CNRS (UMR 7522), University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Claude Diebolt

  2. University of Wisconsin Department of Economics, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA

    Michael Haupert

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Libecap, G.D. (2018). Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism. In: Diebolt, C., Haupert, M. (eds) Handbook of Cliometrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_46-1

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  1. Latest

    Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism
    Published:
    28 July 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_46-2

  2. Original

    Property Rights to Frontier Land and Minerals: US Exceptionalism
    Published:
    26 July 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40458-0_46-1

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