On Tue, 24 Oct 2000, Justin Schwartz wrote:
> Matt's argument does not work against collective ownership of productive
> assets. Scarcity just requires rules to deal with it. Private ownership
> provides one set of rules, or one set of sets of rules, but collective
> ownership offers others. Think of the public library. The books in it are
> limited. so scarce, but they are collectively owned by us all. You do not
> own a public library book taht you take out more than any other taxpayer
> does, you just use it for a period, then return it. This might be a model of
> ownership of other things as well, including productive assets.
>
> --jks
Yep. When the free-market enthusiasts in my college classes go off on the inherent impracticality and inefficiency of collective ownership, this is one of my favorite examples. And it gives me some hope: even in this hyperindividualist, competitive society, we can create collectively owned resources that benefit everybody.
Miles