Kelo: Property rights and eminent domain
Todd of Volokh on Kelo and economics. I guess I don’t get it. Or maybe, considering that everyone on Volokh seems to be on the side of the dissent, I do get it. Here’s what I wrote:
…could someone explain why the ownership structure is so important? Eg., schools, roads, and post offices, normally public, are okay, but housing, shopping, office space, and parks, often private, are not? But schools, roads, and post offices could all be privately owned and operated, just as parks and offices could be public. Or is it the lack of public use? But is there no possible public interest in shopping or living in the new development, or the possibility of getting a job at Pfizer? I guess I’m having a hard time distinguishing the artificial creation of holdout power from landing Pfizer (who could, after all, have gone somewhere else) vs. the artificial creation of holdout power in building a road from A to B (after all, the people in A could go somewhere else too). There’s something I’m missing here…