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April 26 marks the 1711 birth of Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume, termed “The most important philosopher ever to write in English,” by The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Unfortunately, his wide-ranging contributions have overshadowed his contributions to economics. They included empirical arguments against mercantilism, one basis of classical economics; essays on money and international trade which influenced Adam Smith (a close friend, who was actually present at Hume’s death); and the idea that economic freedom is a necessary condition for political freedom.
Of particular importance now, however, given the massive expansion of government power that is being implemented in America, with far more being proposed, is Hume’s understanding of the central importance of stable property rights to society. In his words, private property rights are necessary, because otherwise, people are “exposed to the violence of others,” the threat behind every expansion of government’s reach, which contracts individuals’ rights to control their own property. In contrast, Hume recognized that “[under] a government of Laws, not of Men… Property is there secure…”
Consider some of Hume’s insights on property:
As the improvement, therefore, of … goods is the chief advantage of society, so the instability of their possession, along with their scarcity, is the chief impediment.
The remedy … to bestow stability on the possession of those external goods, and leave every one in the peaceable enjoyment of what he may acquire by his fortune and industry. By this means, every one knows what he may safely possess … abstaining from the possessions of others … it is by that means we maintain society…
[I]t will be for my interest to leave another in the possession of his goods, provided he will act in the same manner with regard to me.
[M]en’s happiness consists not so much in an abundance of [commodities], as in the peace and security with which they possess them…
A man’s property is some object related to him. This relation is not natural, but moral, and founded on justice… The origin of justice explains that of property.
[P]roperty is nothing but a stable possession, derived from the rules of justice…
No one can doubt, that the convention for the distinction of property, and for the stability of possession, is of all circumstances the most necessary to the establishment of human society, and that after the agreement for the fixing and observing of this rule, there remains little or nothing to be done towards settling a perfect harmony and concord.
[R]ender men fit members of society, by making them abstain from the possessions of others…
[I]t is to restrain this selfishness, that men have been obliged to … distinguish between their own goods and those of others.
It follows therefore, that … possession must be stable, is not applied by particular judgments, but by other general rules, which must extend to the whole society, and be inflexible either by spite or favor.
Property must be stable, and must be fixed by general rules … by the steady prosecution of the rule, and by the peace and order which it establishes in society. And even every individual person must find himself a gainer…
[Ideas of perfect equality] are really, at bottom, impracticable; and were they not so, would be extremely pernicious to human society. Render possessions ever so equal, men’s different degrees of art, care and industry will immediately break that equality. Or if you check these virtues, you reduce society to the most extreme indigence; and instead of preventing want and beggary in a few, render it unavoidable to the whole community.
[T]he establishment of the rule, concerning the stability of possession … [is] absolutely necessary to human society… The convention concerning the stability of possession is entered into, in order to cut off all occasions of discord and contention; and this end would never be attained, were we allowed to apply this rule differently in every particular case…
The government, which … receives the appellation of free … must act by general and equal laws, that are previously known to all the members and all their subjects. In this sense … liberty is the perfection of civil society…
Hume recognized that “The heart of man delights in liberty,” and that “In all governments there is an intestine struggle, open or secret, between Authority and Liberty.” He recognized almost three centuries ago that the key to liberty is private property, which protects each citizen from abuse by others, including the government, with its coercive powers. When he argued to “maintain, with the utmost zeal, in every free state, those forms and institutions by which liberty is secured, the public good consulted, and the avarice or ambition of particular men restrained and punished,” he saw private property as chief among them.
