Quote of the day: property rights according to Kant

[timelets]

Kant begins by acknowledging that when one person (A) takes possession of something, everyone else then has a duty not to injure A with respect to that thing. When the duties of all others (that is, everyone but A) are pulled together and looked at in a unified way, they constitute a property right. In other words, property is the summation of the duties of everyone else toward A.

R.P. Merges. Justifying Intellectual Property, 2011.

According to this logic, property rights must have a strong network effect. That would explain the difference in wealth b/w societies with various degrees of property rights.

upd: as opposed to or maybe in addition to the gov coercion theory of rights. coercion is expensive and prone to corruption.