What they don't tell you about Thanksgiving in school
Peter Klein gives us a more complete story of the first Thanksgiving:
This year I am giving thanks for private property.Faced with potential starvation in the spring of 1623, the colony decided to implement a new economic system. Every family was assigned a private parcel of land. They could then keep all they grew for themselves, but now they alone were responsible for feeding themselves. While not a complete private property system, the move away from communal ownership had dramatic results.
Absolutely giving thanks for private property. Situation after situation we come back to these main foundations of economics. Like the phrase “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime” (Anne Isabella Ritchie). The ability to work and provide for oneself is of greater benefit than a hand out. The government plays a part, as proved in the story of Thanksgiving, the absence of property rights contributes to poverty. Without property rights and contract reinforcement, wealth-creating transactions are less likely to occur, stunting development. If you give people ownership to their property they will care for it, invest in it and keep it clean (Froeb McCann, Shor & Ward 2014).
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Froeb, L. & McCann, B. & Shor,M. & Ward, M.(2014) Managerial Economics: A Problem Solving Approach. Boston, Massachusets: Cengage Learning