Private Property Rights, Economic Freedom, and Well Being

An understanding of how private property and economic freedom allow people to coordinate their activities while engaging in trades that make them both people better off, gives us an indication of the institutional environment that is necessary for prosperity. Observation of the countries around the world also indicates that those countries with an institutional environment of secure property rights and high degrees of economic freedom have achieved higher levels of the various measures of human well being. This working paper looks at the role of property rights and their effects on measures of well being.