Comment on Harvey Jacobs' “Social conflict over property rights: the end, a new beginning, or a continuing debate?”

Abstract

Jacobs draws on history, law, politics, and policy to examine the development and response of the private property movement and the social conflict over property rights and public planning. This comment suggests that the debate be broadened beyond the advocates of property rights and planning to include the interests of other members of the community, including minority and low-income households who are often affected by the outcomes. Otherwise, property will continue to be used to exclude people from democracy, rather than include them.

Keywords:

• property rights
• racial segregation
• discrimination

Acknowledgment

Pamela Blumenthal is a Ph.D. candidate at the George Washington University School of Public Policy and Public Administration. She previously practiced banking regulatory law.