How the Grinch stole ... property rights?
Over at Forbes.com, Art Carden has (ht: ). Carden recasts the story as a parable about externalities and property rights.
He starts with the Grinch鈥檚 view that Who singing is a nuisance: Mises Economics Blog
He hated the shrieks of the Who girls and boys
For fifty-three years he鈥檇 put up with it now鈥�
He had to stop Christmas from coming, somehow.
He asked and he questioned the whole thing鈥檚 legality
Then his eyes brightened: he screamed 鈥�!鈥�
He reached for his textbooks; he knew what to do
He鈥檇 fight them with ideas from A.C. Pigou.
As regular readers know, Pigou argued that externalities 鈥� pollution, singing Whos, etc. 鈥� could be addressed by levying taxes that reflect the harm imposed. So maybe, the Grinch might reason, he should help himself to some Who presents and roastbeast whenever they sing.
But wait, as Ronald Coase noted years ago, it takes two to tango 鈥� and to create an externality. So the Whos have a rebuttal:
鈥淲e know that we鈥檙e noisy all through Christmas Day,
But if you don鈥檛 like it, it鈥檚 you who should pay!
鈥淔or we were here first, and homesteaded the rights
To sing, to make noise, and to hang Christmas lights
鈥淭he costs of our Christmas joy helped you to save!
They were fully reflected in the price of your cave!鈥�
I am so using this in my class in the spring.
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