Salinas-León: 'Not a Dismal Science'

Property rights, Roberto Salinas-León says, “are the most important topic in economics.” They permit “confidence in the future” by “replacing the rule of thugs with the rule of law.”

Speaking at lunch on the final day of the economic debates sponsored by the Bush Institute in partnership with the St. Mark’s School of Texas and the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance, Salinas-León emphasized that property rights “give certainty to our daily economic transactions.” By institutionalizing the rules governing our voluntary exchanges of goods and services, they express the “science of humanity in its entirety.”

This is not a “dismal science,” as characterized by the critics of free markets, but rather the expression of “simple rules for a complex world.” Property rights embody the normative foundation not just of free market economics but of democracy. As Salinas-León reminded the young debaters as they entered the final round of the competition, understanding property rights is important “not just for the debate but for the rest of your lives.”