[.ca] The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the ... (ISBN 0312223374)

From Amazon.com:
The phenomenal success of Western civilization and the remarkable economic expansion fueled by modern capitalism, says Tom Bethell, depend chiefly on the institution of private property and the development of secure property rights, yet this simple, striking idea is misunderstood by elite opinion leaders in the United States and around the world. Bethell, a reporter for the American Spectator, offers a history of property as an idea and a reality around the world. His sweeping narrative will appeal to fans of David Landes's The Wealth and Poverty of Nations and Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. Yet, in many crucial respects, The Noblest Triumph (the title comes from British philosopher Jeremy Bentham's line that property laws represent "the noblest triumph of humanity over itself") is better than both, displaying a keener understanding of human nature and of how incentives shape behavior. In a chapter sure to inspire controversy, Bethell argues that the Irish potato famines of the 1840s were due primarily to Ireland's lack of stable property rights in the 19th century. Full of astute observations and written with real clarity, The Noblest Triumph makes a unique and welcome contribution to the debate over why some countries thrive while others languish. --John J. Miller

Silent about original aquisition!:
Silent about original acquisition! This book, which purports to be about property rights, is strangely silent about the concept of original acquisition. That is, the right to property is based by the method by which it was originally received. A simple example, if the property was stolen or it the original deed is false then the property is rightly not yours. John Locke had something to say about this but that was a long time ago. But in this book, the author is silent. And for good reason, for if he did discuss it, the topic would be embarrassing for North Americans for they would have to transfer land back to those they had stolen it from - i.e. the Native Americans. In total, while I can agree the owning property is a good thing, it is only good when it has been acquired by the proper methods. But in North America it was stolen. One star for dishonestly.

Mine and thine: Key to a civilized world in the 21st Century:
Tom Bethell has written, in remarkably plain English, an explanation of how property really works in the functioning of economically effective societies. The attack on the legitimacy of property led to massive social disasters in the 20th Century, which will take the affected billions of victims (that is, the ones fortunate to have survived) decades to recover from. It's time to make a clean sweep and institute an Anglo-American system of property rights around the world -- probably the one form of "globalization" that will improve people's prospects more than anything.

Compelling Argument:
It was Locke's argument, I believe, that freedom is the fence around our property. Without freedom, property is worthless. Bethel's argument is, without property, there is no freedom. One of the more remarkable arguments in the book is that the tremendous early success of the British economy rested to a large degree on the security of property. In no other country were property rights as secure or as fiercely defended. Yet the neglect of property by nearly all economists and historians is due in part to the very centrality of property. He remarks that Mill took out the chapter on property in his economics testbook at the urging of his socialist wife, and after that the topic of property entirely disappeared from economics. Bethel makes the entirely convincing argument that in fact the security of property, in developing countries, is the most reliable predictor of success. He tells a heartbreaking story about the redistribution of land in Iran during the Shah's rule. The Americans had suggested that the Shah conduct land reform to weaken the power of the large landlords. The land was redistributed to small landowners. Some small American entrepreneurs also came in and bought some land and started to build successful companies employing hundreds of people. Then the Americans had the bright idea to reappropriate the land, subsidize the development through AID, and get large American companies involved. Individual enterprise disappeared and the policy became a de facto jobs program. The land was of course reappropriated under the mullahs. Moral of the story? If you can just take it away and give it to somebody else, what is to stop somebody from doing it again?

A Triumph of Reason:
This is a phenomenal book that deserves to be read by all who aspire to understand the framework upon which affluence is built. Bethell's insights are incisive and spot on. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

A Good Lay-history of Struggle for Markets!:
Honestly, I read this book about a year and a half ago. Since, though, I've reread several sections of it. Bethell gives a fascinating account of the history of market, and not-so-marketlike, ideas. Yes, this book is a polemic of sorts and Bethell provides a few chapters explaining (very well) market theories like the tragedy of the commons and even explaining Marx fairly accurately. So the book DOES have a bias, but the research and statements within are very accurate. The two chapters that stood out to me were one near the beginning, showing us how America originated as a quasi-capitalist system of personal icentive. Second, and most interesting of all, was a full chapter devoted to the entirely strange story of Robert Owen and his New Melody utopia. Long and short, Owen was a millionare turned socialist (notice its only the very rich and very poor that are socialists?) who lost his bankrole on a bizzare utopian scheme, wherein he bought land in the U.S., got volunteers, and lost it all some years later because the workmen turned lazy. The reason I highlight this chapter is because as important as the facts of New Melody are, they are seldom collected in book form (at least not ones in print). Here, Bethell devotes AN ENTIRE CHAPTER to the catastrophe. Buy this book, if only for that. Still, even without that chapter, this book is a goody. Marx and Mill are discussed, the soviet union experiment, even contemporary issues like property and the environment, and intellectual property rights are discussed. Overall, a good book that will get the unconvinced thinking and get the convinced even more convinced. Convinced?