The Elgar Companion to the Economics of Property Rights.

This book aims at examining the origin, evolution and effectiveness of economic systems founded on property right regimes. Part I deals with the foundations and thus the legitimacy of property. The boundaries of private property and the extent of legitimate or tolerable interference by policy-makers are discussed in detail. Part II is devoted to the analysis of different legal systems from a property rights standpoint and their implications as regards the economics of institutions. Finally, Part III provides some applications of property rights economics to the real world. In particular, it offers a number of important regulatory challenges, and implicitly questions the ambition to achieve static efficiency and “equitable” distribution, possibly replacing legitimacy with legality.