GIVE THANKS FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY
Americans recently celebrated Thanksgiving Day, a holiday they trace back to the early Pilgrim settlers who gave thanks to God with a big feast after their first harvest.
President Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday in 1863. It's a popular and joyous day in which gratitude is expressed in religious services and at family gatherings.
American success is built on a robust individualism based on private property in a free market economy.
But interestingly, this was a lesson that the Pilgrim founders learnt the hard way.
John Stossel points out that they organised their farm economy along communal lines.
They wanted to share the work and produce equally, but this was a disaster, leading to famine and starvation for two years.
Because the land was common, everybody shirked work as there was no direct personal return. After much debate, they set aside land for each family.
Governor William Bradford wrote: "This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so much more corn was planted ... By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty ... to the rejoicing of the hearts of many."
This illustrates what economists call "the tragedy of the commons". It was noted as far back as ancient Greece, when Aristotle wrote: "That which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it."
Private property connects effort to reward, thereby creating an incentive for people to produce far more. The surplus can be traded for mutual benefit, making everybody better off.
This is why capitalism has always proved superior to socialism. It's why there are famines in North Korea while South Korea flourishes.
Native Americans were largely denied the benefits of private property on the reservations they were confined to since the 19th century.
According to economist Terry Anderson, private land on Indian reservations is 40 to 90% more productive than land owned through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
He says "If you drive through western reservations, you will see on one side cultivated fields, irrigation, and on the other side, overgrazed pasture, run-down pastures and homes. One is a simple commons; the other side is private property."
We have a similar situation in South Africa where apartheid legislation confined most rural blacks to land under the control of tribal chiefs.
Historian G Findley wrote in 1940 that "tribal tenure is a guarantee that the land will never properly be worked" as it excludes individual ownership.
Security of tenure is unfortunately still denied to many rural black people, but would unleash huge energy by giving direct incentive to work land productively.
Another advantage is that property owners can borrow against the value of their property.
We need a title deeds revolution to boost our economy and lift large numbers of people out of poverty.
Jack Bloom MPL is DA Leader in the Gauteng Legislature
This article first appeared in the Citizen.
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