The Political Institution of Private Property

In this book Itai Sened provides an original analysis of the political institutions that protect property and individual rights. He argues that the origin of these rights resides in political institutions, and not in any set of moral principles. Individual rights are said to derive from a "social contract" that evolves through a political process in which governments grant and protect rights in return for political and economic support. Extending neo-institutional theory to the subject, and using a positive game theoretic approach in its analysis, this book is an original contribution to scholarship on the evolution of rights.