Property Rights, Competition, and Wealth: A Public Choice Perspective on Markets and Institutions

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the fundamentals of a free economic society. Chapter one begins with how economists deal with the basic institution of property rights. Economists generally hold that a free economic society cannot exist without property rights. This chapter examines how those beliefs are dealt with in economic textbooks. If economists believe that property rights are primary to economic thought, then one would assume that those rights should be explored and discussed in basic, entry level textbooks. Chapter two progresses to another fundamental basis of a free market system: competition. The example used in this chapter is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is charged with managing athletic events among colleges and universities, and their decision to change the method in which a championship is determined. This chapter evaluates the mixed results of the change and some possible reasons for the results. Lastly, chapter three focuses on how state control of an economy affects the accumulation of wealth and the ability of the individual to better themselves in a free market. Popular culture would say that a free market would benefit some people to the detriment of others. This examination attempts to show that the economy is more complex than simply a binary choice between a “free market” or a “command and control” system. The institutions and markets that create an economy are extremely complex and cannot be condensed into a single metric but are rather the culmination of the decisions of the myriad individual participants of the economy.