Private Property Regime

The most commonly known property rights regime is that of private property. Under this regime, individuals, households, or even groups (corporate bodies, firms, etc.) can own resources with exclusive rights to use them, rights to exclude others from using them, and right to sell some or all of them. Examples are private land and livestock ownership, privately owned machines, etc. Only the owner can draw benefits or welfare from the use of these resources.

Neo-Classical economic thinking proposes that resources under private property regimes are efficiently manageable under a competitive market condition.  In reality, however, such market situations do not exist for a large number of resources such as land, forests, water or fishing. Further, sometimes private property leads to socially inefficient uses. For example, poor farmers selling fertile agricultural lands for building motels, etc. The social losses may overshadow the private benefits in such cases. Because of individual property rights, it is often extremely difficult for the government or the state to regulate their use or abuse in the best interest of the people at large.