The Six Simple Stories

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Attachment is nine tenths of the law. It's mine because i'm holding on to it. Labor is the fourth. You reap what you sow. The fifth one itself, oner ship, its mind coas it comes from my body. And the sixth and final one, his family. Those are the moments when really a lot of wealth in our country moves around. All ownership debates come down to a clash among those six stories.

Law professors Michael Heller and James Salzman talk about their book, Mine! with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Heller and Salzman argue that ownership is trickier and more complicated than it looks. While we tend to think of something as either mine or not mine, there's often ambiguity and a continuum about who owns what. Salzman and Heller explore a wide and surprising range of property rights from everyday life. The conversation includes a discussion of the insights of Ronald Coase on the assignment of property rights when rights conflict.