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2.1.17. Property.

D.1. Property: The entire set of different goods in different quantities which serves all the different needs of a man, or his family, over a certain period of time, is his or her property.

E.1. Everyone, poor or rich, young or old, male or female, etc etc, faces more or less a similar set of needs, and goods must be in possession to satiate these needs over any given course of time. A set of different sorts of goods serving different needs a man acquires for himself for gratification of his or her needs in a given time period is called his property. A property then is only composed of Goods, and shall a non-good be in possession of a man, we remain indifferent to such belongings. 

E.2. Therefore, all our clothes of summer and winter are my property but the broken cupboard never to be used again in my store cannot be counted as my property unless I devise ways to use it somehow. This concept of property is broad, and despite it, has been covered only briefly by Menger. Much now can be debated. 

Are all our things which serve business needs property as well as things which serve personal need property? Are things which we may possibly use, also property? A fully depreciated thing in my store room, is a non-good but suddenly becomes a good if I can imagine a new use of it. So does that imply property is suddenly increased out of trash? Are human actions and inactions too now my property, as in copy right, but also as in friends?   


Reference: Menger, Carl (2004). Principles of Economics, Online edition, The Mises Institute, 2004. (Chapter 01 Section 6)

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