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The Theft of the Commons

The Theft of the Commons
A police officer puts do not cross tape on barricades in a file photo. Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images
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Commentary

The 19th-century French economist Frédéric Bastiat ominously predicted the following. As official institutions become ever less protective of property rights, people’s own respect for each other’s property would decline too. There would be an increase in theft, particularly of public property but also of private property.

Jeffrey A. Tucker
Jeffrey A. Tucker
Author
Jeffrey A. Tucker is the founder and president of the Brownstone Institute and the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press, as well as 10 books in five languages, most recently “Liberty or Lockdown.” He is also the editor of “The Best of Ludwig von Mises.” He writes a daily column on economics for The Epoch Times and speaks widely on the topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture. He can be reached at [email protected]