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Emergence of Sago Palms as Private Property: An Extension of Demsetz’s Thesis of the Origins of Private Property

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  • Landa Janet T.

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada)

Abstract

Harold Demsetz (1967. “Towards a Theory of Property Rights,” The American Economic Review 57(2): 350), in a seminal paper, developed an economic thesis of the emergence of private property: “[P]roperty rights develop to internalize externalities when the gains of internalization become larger than the cost of internalization…. [G]iven a community’s tastes … the emergence of new private or state-owned property rights will be in response to changes in technology and relative prices.” Demsetz used his theory to explain anthropologist Leacock’s findings about the emergence of private hunting grounds for fur-bearing animals among the Canadian Montagne Indian tribes living in Quebec. In a more recent paper, Demsetz (2002. “Toward a Theory of Property Rights II: The Competition between Private and Collective Ownership,” The Journal of Legal Studies 31: S653–72) broadened his theory to include the emergence of private property from state enforcement of contractual rights. In this paper, I revisit Demsetz’s thesis by showing that there is another pathway to the emergence of private property. The facts I use to develop my law and bioeconomics-public choice theory of the emergence of sago palms as private property are based on anthropologist H. S. Morris’s (1976. “A Problem in Land Tenure,” in G. N. Appell (ed.) The Societies of Borneo: Explorations in the Theory of Cognatic Social Structure, pp. 110–20. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association) case study of Melanau hunter-gatherer-fishing tribal people living in Sarawak where individuals held sago palms as private property.

Suggested Citation

  • Landa Janet T., 2014. "Emergence of Sago Palms as Private Property: An Extension of Demsetz’s Thesis of the Origins of Private Property," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 51-67, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:maneco:v:1:y:2014:i:1:p:17:n:3
    DOI: 10.1515/me-2014-0006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(2), pages 124-124.
    2. Christopher Boehm, 2004. "What Makes Humans Economically Distinctive? A Three-Species Evolutionary Comparison and Historical Analysis," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 109-135, May.
    3. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 9, pages 178-203, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Eggertsson,Thrainn, 1990. "Economic Behavior and Institutions," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521348911, June.
    5. Frederic Pryor, 2003. "What Does it Mean to be Human? A Comparison of Primate Economies," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 97-145, May.
    6. Cooter, Robert & Landa, Janet T., 1984. "Personal versus impersonal trade: The size of trading groups and contract law," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 15-22, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    communal property; customary law (the adat); externalities; decision-making costs; cognatic kinship system; corporate groups; variance reduction; food storage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies
    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems

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